


Hexes and Honeysuckle

by NotEvenCloseToStraight



Series: Magic and Magnolias Verse [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst and Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, Aunt Peggy Carter, Awkward Flirting, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Falling In Love, Familiar Tony Stark, First Meetings, Happily Ever After, Hurt Bucky Barnes, M/M, Magical Bond, Sarcasm, Sassy Tony Stark, Sort Of, Soulmate AU, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Witch Bucky Barnes, Witch Curses, hexes, winteriron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:14:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24701410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotEvenCloseToStraight/pseuds/NotEvenCloseToStraight
Summary: Witches and familiars go together like pb&j, like hot chocolate and marsh mellows, like Sundays and sweet tea. Witches are most powerful with a compatible familiar, spells amplified and potions intensified and familiars are endlessly loyal, terrifyingly protective with a Witch to call their own.But an incompatible pair is just trouble and that's when matchmakers are needed.Tony is a former witch cursed to the familiar form, bratty and sassy and a pain in the ass, rejected by a dozen other witches for sheer snarkiness and fully content to lounge in the sun instead of work. Bucky is a witch lost from his coven, quiet and sullen, struggling with even simple spells after his injury and definitely NOT excited about having a cat.They fight from day one, are fully ridiculous from day two but despite their complaints, the matchmakers refuses to separate the pair. Tony and Bucky are like oil and water, like pineapple and pizza, like hexes and honeysuckle––until one day Tony uses his mostly dormant powers to walk through Bucky’s dreams and learns there’s more to the witch than he ever thought possible.*BONUS XMAS CHAPTER ADDED*
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Natasha Romanov
Series: Magic and Magnolias Verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2052432
Comments: 148
Kudos: 895
Collections: Avengers, They turned me into a… but I got better





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A commission for @livewire28 who wanted a Winteriron Witchy Shenanigan with mostly humour but a little dash of feels and we both decided a thoroughly high maintenance familiar!Tony was wholly necessary. I think this will be five-ish chapters but we decided I would just start writing and see where it ends up!

Just along the highway where the woods are extra thick and the road seems to narrow, where the mountains loom tall in every direction and waterfalls pour into the river basin, where wildlife watch with curious, unafraid eyes and the trees stretch towards an endlessly blue sky, just _there_ where the turns get twisty and the forest creeps closer to the asphalt with every foot traveled, just _here_ when a driver is sure they took a wrong turn and the GPS is absolutely lying when it says the car is within a hundred yards of the destination, just as soon as they are ready to turn around and spend hours driving back to civilization and give up on what was supposed to be a lovely little jaunt in the countryside to find a little shop with the best beeswax candles on the Eastern seaboard– **  
**

– that’s when a sign appears in the shrubbery, half obscured by the flowering vines and painted in faded colors.

“ _Welcome to Everwinter_ ” the sign says, or perhaps in the warmer months it says, “ _Welcome to Somerlast_ ” and in the fall when the apples are ripe and ready to eat it might say _“Welcome to Autumvale_ ” but no matter the arrangement of letters, the traveler is always grateful and pleasantly surprised to find the name of the town is perfectly set to alleviate their previously dark mood. 

_At last they’ve found what they are looking for._

A quick turn onto a poorly marked road leads to a few moments of bouncing down dirt paths and rattling across not one but _two_ rocky creek beds, and then quite suddenly there is the most beautiful little town anyone could ever hope to see, a hidden gem that might have been plucked from the English countryside or stolen from the best days of Southern summers, or spirited away from the golden days along the coast. 

The store fronts along main street are all vaguely familiar but not quite modern enough to be the shops found in the city, every car cruising along the stretch of fading asphalt is a model of _nostalgia_ , reminding the visitor of that rebuilt Mustang from the summer after high school, or the rag top convertible from the night of prom, the truck that was always a to-do project buried in the garage and the Jeep with mud from a half dozen spring breaks still on the tires. 

Nostalgia blooms fragrant alongside pretty, populous flowers anyone and if the person is so inclined to travel a ways down the wide set sidewalks of the little town, if the motorist really _has_ come all this way to find those beeswax candles their sister in law prattled on about for a solid hour over last month’s tedious family dinner? 

Well those particular candles can be found in the shop called “ _Magic and Magnolias_ ”, set on display on the third shelf from the door, right next to an assortment of floral perfumes, cough drops made from golden honey and doilies tatted of astonishingly delicate silk. 

“ _Magic and Magnolias_ ” is owned by a peculiar pair of women, both red heads, both shockingly beautiful, both unorthodox in dress and manner and visitors to the shop were always unfailingly charmed by one of the women, and slightly unsettled by the other. The experience varied from person to person, from meeting to meeting, which redhead was the more charming, which looked like she might gobble you up if given the chance, but everyone agreed the owners were _quirky_ to say the least. 

Natasha Romanoff dressed as if she’d just come from a Renaissance fair or stepped from the pages of a book of Regency era fashion. She was particularly, purposefully made up in full gown and bustle, a corset and intricate hairstyle, silk stockings and button hook boots. The women was clearly ancient though her skin was set like porcelain, the ink on her collarbone inscribed with a Black Widow’s mark, the rings on her finger stacked so the inscribed words all read one sentence in a language no one could possibly read. 

No one else besides the Dame Virginia ‘ _Pepper_ ’ Potts that is, seeing as how her rings were writ in the same text and script. That was where the similarities ended between the two though– with their sunset colored hair and odd taste in jewelry. 

Where Natasha was tiny, Pepper was taller than most. Where Natasha wore her fashions from an era bygone, Pepper believed in cut off denim shorts and half unbuttoned dress shirts. Natasha’s hair would have taken a mere mortal hours to accomplish, Pepper wore hers loose or gathered into a bejewled clip and together the women presented a beautiful, beguiling mystery to any and all patrons of ‘ _Magic and Magnolias_ ’, whether the patrons were there for a candle or taffy, or for another service altogether. 

It wasn’t only vintage jewelry and curious knick knacks offered in the darling little shop, neither were all patrons that stepped foot through the doors in search of something _physical_. In a twist of fate that happened only in places like this, only where the forest converged so thick someone could hear the trees breathing, not all visitors to the shop were strictly human, and not all oddities sold from behind the counter were strictly known. 

And the not-human visitors seeking not-known items were fully aware the ladies Natasha and Pepper were not mere _ladies_ at all, but instead bore the title and responsibilities of two of the most powerful witches known to the surviving covens. 

And what were two near deities to do with lifetimes of knowledge and endless hours when they weren’t selling trinkets to tourists?

 _Matchmaking_ , of course. 

“We need to do something about Tony, darling.” Natasha mentioned one morning as the sun came refracted and colorful through the myriad of stained glass wind chimes along their porch. “Do you know he’s come back again?” 

“I was not aware.” Pepper idly turned a page in her book and reached for one of the raspberry white chocolate scones, pausing for a split second so Natasha could break the other half off for her own plate. “I have to say I’m surprised Tiberius rejected him though. That witch needs a familiar badly and Tony is half desperate to get relieve the hex you’d think they would try everything to make the situation work. If anyone could teach that cat humility it would be someone like Ty.” 

“Learning humility is not the same as being humiliated.” Natasha countered and Pepper _mm-hmm_ ’d in agreement. “I’d hoped Tony’s sarcasm would bring Ty down a notch or two and in the same motion force Tony to re-evaluate his approach to disagreements but I suppose it wasn’t meant to be.” 

“Is this the report of grievance?” Pepper reached for her lover’s notebook and scanned the contents, her pretty mouth dropping open in shock. “Oh no. Ty says ‘ _the familiar brought me gifts in the form of dead birds, then waited until I was sleeping to drop them on my face_ ’. Anthony Edward Stark–!” 

The next scone burned a little around the edges when Pepper’s power flexed in the air. “–I swear, if Peggy hadn’t cursed his obstinate butt, I would have done it myself!” 

“For all your power and the way our magic combines, not even you not I are enough to bind a witch to the familiar form.” Natasha replied dryly. “And Peggy’s curse is so beautifully _simple_ – bound to familiar until Tony learns humility and empathy. It should not take several years and all our best attempts at matchmaking to teach that mangy cat a lesson.” 

“He’s not mangy.” Pepper laughed softly. “Peggy was kind enough to at least give him to a Persian form, something with beautiful hair and gorgeous eyes like Tony had been when he was human. She could have bound him as a toad, you know.” 

“Well maybe if Peggy _had_ bound the brat as a toad, humility would have been a lesson learned the first time he had to eat a fly.” Natasha adjusted one of the jeweled combs in her hair and sighed over loud. “This is the third broken contract since Spring Solstice, Pepper. I think it’s going to affect our perfect matchmaking streak if it continues.” 

“Pairing a witch and familiar isn’t about a perfect match making streak, my love.” Pepper corrected reproachfully. “Besides you know the natural order of these things– witches and familiars are meant to find each other _alone_ , to soul bond and amplify the others magic naturally. Those who need a matchmaking service are either heartbroken and grieving after a lost bond or have something honestly wrong with them and can’t be matched alone. We can’t be too surprised if even _our_ help doesn’t work.”

“I know, I know.” Natasha broke off another piece of scone and swirled it idly through a cream cheese glaze. “So what are we going to do about Tony, then?” 

“Well I was thinking–” 

“You know, I came across a witch the other day who could use our help but is infinitely too stubborn to admit it.” Pepper raised her eyebrows in surprise when Natasha interrupted her, but stayed quiet and motioned for her partner to continue. “Bucky Barnes, do you know the name?” 

“I am not familiar, no. New to town, is he?” 

“He’s from the Lehigh Coven.” Natasha explained in a hushed tone, and Pepper’s face first cleared in recognition, then _crumpled_ in understanding. “I was under the impression there were no survivors at Lehigh, but apparently there is at least one. He has taken over the cottage in the far clearing a few miles out of town.” 

“Poor dear.” Pepper clicked her tongue sympathetically. “He must be terribly scarred after surviving a tragedy like that.” 

“Obviously.” 

“And his magic is affected by the trauma?” 

“As expected.” The other witch nodded in affirmation. “When I met him I could only sense a faint aura of magic around him, I’d say he’s damn close to human if he doesn’t start nurturing his powers. It’s been known to happen, a witch to fall out of practice and expire towards mortal.” 

“That would be a shame, there aren’t many of us left.” Pepper pursed her lips, steepled her fingers as she thought through the new information. “Is he old enough to have learned many of our ways or to have ever had his own familiar?” 

“No.” Natasha mirrored Pepper’s posture purely out of habit, decades and decades with each other lending a sense of similarity to every motion they made. “No, no he’s young Pep. _Actually_ young too, not young in the way that you have seen several less centuries than I have. I don’t know how old he was when the Lehigh Coven fell but it hasn’t been all that long, so I doubt he’s celebrated his first centennial yet. He needs a well established familiar that can help his magic grow in the most basic steps before amplifying it like the bond is meant to do.” 

“But Tony is _not_ a well established familiar.” Pepper pointed out immediately. “He’s not even technically a _familiar_. He is a two hundred year old witch who pissed off his auntie, who happens to be the most powerful sorceress our guild has ever known. We should _not_ unleash his level of snark on a survivor of the Lehigh Coven.” 

“We should.” Natasha disagreed. “Because someone like Bucky would force Tony to stop being so self centered. And having a familiar with Tony’s amount of knowledge could bring even the most inexperienced witch several decades forward in training in a short amount of time.” 

“Natasha, Tony insulted a witch so badly last fall they _actually_ set his tail on fire.” 

Natasha hid a smile in the palm of her hand. “Well you know what they say about opposites, Pep.” 

“That they never work? Ever?” Pepper’s green eyes flashed like lightning, annoyance wrinkling her perfect brow. “Witches and familiars have to match, not be odd couples. It won’t work and I refuse to subject Bucky to one of Tony’s bad moods. The child lived through Lehigh, he shouldn’t have to live through two hundred years worth of power and spite condensed into a fifteen pound hairball. That’s not fair.” 

“Well Bucky needs someone.” Natasha had clearly made up her mind, gold ink already self inscribing across the top of parchment set on their breakfast table. “And we are running out of options for Tony. If he doesn’t find a witch to match with soon, his hex will run its course and he will be trapped to the familiar forever. _That_ isn’t fair either.”

“Tasha–” 

“When we took on the mantle of matchmaking, we swore a duty to help everyone, my love.” Natasha interrupted again. “Bucky’s situation is not his fault, and even though Tony’s is _certainly_ his own fault–” 

“–he shouldn’t have sassed Peggy so much–” 

“– that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.” Natasha finished. “We will make it a strict contract, set a number on the amount of grievances they may file against each other, set a behavioral constraint on Tony and a time limit so if either simply cannot handle the adjustment or if the bond hasn’t set within a reasonable amount of time, it can be dissolved with no issue.” 

“Bucky doesn’t deserve to have Tony hack up hairballs in his milk every day!” Pepper insisted. “You and I know Tony isn’t so much mean as he is mischievous, but we’ve had two hundred years to learn his ways. Someone new would not appreciate his particular brand of high maintenance hijinks.” 

Natasha snatched the list of grievances from Ty back and read through them one more time. “My god, Tony really did hack up hairballs in Ty’s milk every day, didn’t he? That is hilarious.” 

“ _Tasha_.” 

“Hilariously terrible.” the witch amended, and bared her teeth in a teasing smile to her love. “Be honest Pep, you are at least twice as vengeful as me beneath that sweet disposition, you’d curdle that bastard’s milk too if you had the chance.” 

“I’d certainly curdle _something_ of his.” Pepper agreed with a little sniff. “I’m not saying I am on board yet, but before any other decisions are made we need to talk about a possible romance between Bucky and Tony, don’t you think? Sharing magic and powers and occasionally one awareness naturally leads to sexual tension and most witch-familiar pairings move between their forms to indulge that urge together. But Tony is bound to the familiar so…” 

“…so we don’t have to worry about he and Bucky indulging any sort of _urge_ in that manner.” Natasha made a face. “Don’t even think about it, Pep. Tony can’t return to his human form until the hex is broken, so as far as Bucky is concerned he is simply a _cat_. Once the curse lifts, Tony will no longer have the familiar _spirit_ , so any bond they have forged will naturally dissipate and they will go separate ways.”

“We have _never_ written a matchmaking contract with out at least a warning about potential romantic entanglements.” 

“We’ve also never written a matchmaking contract between two witches where one of them is cursed to be furry and four legged for the entirety of the bond.” Natasha argued back. “It’s a non essential matter in this situation, Pep. If they decide to pursue a romantic entanglement after the curse is broken, that is entirely up to them.” 

“And um–” Natasha hesitated, drummed her fingers on the table. “– I don’t think it will be an issue then, either.” 

Natasha cocked a curious eyebrow and the other witch explained, “Bucky survived Lehigh but he didn’t survive… whole.” she made a motion over the left side of her body, and Pepper’s beautiful eyes dimmed in sympathy. “A witch hurt to those extremes usually focuses all their power simply on healing, usually their magic never grows beyond the bounds of simply surviving. And since Tony is Tony–” 

“–romance would be very far from Bucky’s mind, and Tony has never stayed with anyone longer than it took for him to get off and get cleaned up.” Pepper finished. “So even if Tony _wasn’t_ bound as a cat, there would be little to no interest on either parties side.” 

“Not that Bucky isn’t gorgeous in a brooding, murdery type of way.” Natasha hastened to add. “Despite his injury and scars if I wasn’t so in love with you I’d be tempted to–” 

“ _NATASHA_!” 

“–set him up with another of our witch friends.” Pepper huffed when Natasha only winked at her. “But no. I think with Tony being stuck feline and Bucky needing every bit of energy and magic to heal… no. No need for a warning about potential romance.” 

“Mm-hmm.” Pepper crumbled up another piece of scone between her fingers and idly licked the crumbs off her thumb. “And if Tony projects himself into Bucky’s dreams in human form?” 

“Darling, it took me almost three hundred years to learn how to dream walk along someone else’s consciousness.” Natasha waved away the suggestion. “Tony spent two hundred years worth of training crafting aphrodisia potions and making things go _boom_. He cannot dream walk and even if he could, he’d use it to cause mayhem and you damn well know it.” 

“Mm-hmm.” Pepper said again, and Natasha prodded at her love with the tip of her boot, urging, “You _know_ it’s a good idea, Pep. Could even be one of our finest matches.” 

“I don’t know about that, I like to think our finest match was done the morning I woke up with you in my bed.” Pepper gave it another moments thought and then nodded. “Fine. Call Bucky in and I’ll get Tony. We’ll draw up a contract and set the two of them together and–” she blew out a deep breath. “–see what happens?” 

“That’s my girl.” Natasha leaned over the table to press a long kiss to Pepper’s lips. “So young and still so wise.” 

“So young.” Pepper snorted before waving the other witch away. “I’ve practically aged a half millenia by now.” 

“Oh beauty, you are not a day over two hundred.” Natasha promised. “Not a _day_.” 

***************

***************

“Article six: Witches are not to use their familiar-amplified powers to cause trouble.” Natasha read through the contract quickly, knowing full well that Tony had heard these rules at least a dozen times by now and even if Bucky had _never_ heard them, most of the guidelines were common sense for any educated witch. “The familiar-amplified powers are meant to be used in the pursuit of knowledge, in the guarantee of safety for their family and loved ones and only in the most necessary of times, for defense.” 

“Oooh yes, I’d very much like an excuse to throw fireballs at someone again, been a while since I got to make anything go boom.” It was thoroughly disconcerting to hear such a human voice from such a cat… _cat_ and when Tony spoke up from his seat on the most comfortable chair in the room, three witches swiveled to look at him, one gaze curious, the other two _scandalized_. “Oh stop that, like you haven’t ever set someone’s butt on fire just to hear them scream.” 

Tony arched his back in a languorous stretch and then flopped back onto the cushion. “Pep I fully remember that one solstice where Sunset irritated the dickens out of you and you lit the old bag up like–”

“Article Seven!” Pepper interrupted quickly, and Tony gave her the cat version of a snarky grin. “Any complaints or grievances filed must be valid issues and submitted in writing to the match makers.” Pepper pointed to herself, and then to Natasha. “The familiar cannot go out of their way to cause mischief, _Tony_ , and neither can the witch make life exceedingly difficult for their familiar. Frivolous complaints or clearly purposefully malicious acts will be taken as a breach of contract and discipline and/or changes to the arrangement will be meted out as necessary.” 

Bucky read through his coordinating contract slowly, mouthing the words along with Pepper and stealing the occasional glance over towards the familiar he was supposed to bond with. 

“See something you like?” the cat challenged when he caught Bucky staring, and the witch answered before he caught himself, retorting, “Just thinkin’ you look like someone who gets mice brought to them instead’a doing the hunting yourself.” 

Electric blue eyes widened in surprise, Pepper muffled a quiet laugh into her palm and Tony stuttered a few times, then insisted, “I don’t catch mice, I’m not actually a cat! Do you think I’m actually a cat?” and then to Natasha, “He thinks I’m actually a cat! How many cats do you know that _talk_?!” 

“Thankfully, just the one.” Natasha replied calmly and went back to reading, “Article Eight. A familiar’s human form is never a required presence regardless of what the witch might request or demand. The human form is known only to the familiar and those they trust and once shared, the witch must guard the familiar’s identity with their very life.” 

“So…” Bucky glanced again at the lovely feline, at the blue grey fur and star tingly intelligent eyes blinking back at him. “So if Tony decides to show me his human form…?” 

“Doesn’t matter.” Tony cut in, flicking his tail irritably when Pepper tried to talk over him. “You won’t ever see my human form and if you do, you’ll only catch the briefest glimpse of my finely toned tuchus as I get the hell out of here. Article Eight doesn’t apply to this situation, keep talking please.” 

“Article Nine.” Pepper kept reading and Tony quit pretending to listen, choosing instead to take a closer look at this next witch Pepper and Natasha seemed to think would be the one to _finally_ teach him a lesson in humility and empathy.

In another life, in a _human_ life, Tony would have thought the witch was attractive. He had a type or two or dozen when it came to lovers, and while _one_ of those types was deceptively dangerous redheads with astonishing powers, one of the _other_ types was hulking and broody and intense in a way that usually meant murder and mayhem and _whoo_ did this particular witch check all those boxes. 

In another, human life Tony would have overlooked the missing arm and most likely been fascinated by the scars peeking out at Bucky’s shirt collar, he would have bought the witch a drink and pushed him into bed for a night of sparks and literal magic because sex was _good_ between witches. 

But in this life he was cursed to familiar which meant the witch Bucky mattered only enough to try and break his hex and as Tony looked the big brunette over, his heart sank a little bit more with each passing moment. 

_How could such an obviously new witch help him with this?_

“Article Ten.” Pepper cleared her throat. “If Tony isn’t listening to these rules I’ll add in something that will guarantee he is afflicted with hiccups every day for the entirety of the contract–” 

“I’m listening!” the familiar snapped, and in the other chair Bucky snorted a quiet laugh. “I’m listening! Just get on with it, I’m hungry and it’s about time to test ol’ Buckaroo’s cooking skills. Hop to it, ladies.” 

“Bucky.” Pepper rolled up the contract and tied it with a twist of golden string. “I apologize for Tony, he’s an asshole but let’s be honest, we’d all be terrible if we were cursed to be a cat, hm?” 

“Cursed, huh?” Bucky raised curious eyebrows but Tony just looked away, not sure if he could handle _pity_ from someone he didn’t plan on knowing very long. “Why are you cursed, bud?” 

“I sassed my Auntie.” Tony flexed his claws into the antique upholstery. “Can we get going? Seriously, I feel a hairball coming on.” 

“You’re the worst.” Natasha informed the bratty familiar. “Do either of you have any questions?” 

“Well…” Bucky tapped the contract against his palm a few times and shrugged awkwardly, only his right shoulder moving with the motion. “Truth be told I’m not much of a cat person. You got a dog anywhere around here?” 

Tony’s bright eyes went comically wide and he stuck his nose in the air to announce, “Alright, I think I’d like to file my first complaint!” 

“Noted and ignored.” Pepper stood up, then turned to help Natasha with all her skirts to stand as well. “You are both free to go, and we look forward to hearing updates as your relationship progresses.” 

“Thank you.” Bucky got up stiffly, and Tony peered a little closer at the witch, cataloguing the flicker of pain across Bucky’s face and the way his left shoulder hung so low, his neck stiff. He was clearly hurting and Tony wondered why the hell Bucky didn’t use a simple pain relief charm to fix it. “You uh– you coming, kitty?” 

“Oh, you’re the sorta gent to let _me_ come first?” Tony sassed, watching with no small amount of amusement as the witch blinked at him first in confusion and then in horrified realization. 

“ _Tony_!” 

“Yeah, that’s right. Say my name.” Tony leapt lightly off the seat and twitched his full tail at the lady witches in succession. “I’m sure I’ll see you both again in a week. Not sure how high my hopes are for this particular endeavor.” 

“Behave.” Natasha bent down and scooped Tony up into her arms, looking the cat right in the eyes as she demanded. “I’m serious, Tony. This might be your last chance to break Peggy’s curse so for the love of all that is holy please behave. _Please_.” 

“This corset pushes your bosoms right up to your chin.” A little paw darted out and smacked at Natasha’s chest. “How are you even breathing right now?” 

“We will talk later about how weird it is for a feline to be commenting on my breasts.” the witch sighed. “But for right now I need you to listen.” 

“Tasha–” 

“ _Tony_.” she shook the familiar a little and Tony’s ears went back, his lips curling in annoyance. “My love, I don’t want to see you trapped like this anymore and beyond that, I know you are close to your breaking point, I know you are ready to give up and condemn yourself to this life because it seems impossible to change.” 

The cat went quiet and Natasha drew a very careful finger down his nose. “Be nice to this one, Tony. Bucky’s story is not mine to tell, but you need to be _nice_.” 

“I’ll–” Tony forced out a sigh. “I’ll be nice.” 

“Promise me you will be a normal version of nice and not your patented ‘I love you so I pranked you’ version of nice.” she insisted and the familiar meowed in reluctant agreement, then promptly decided, “You’re a spoilsport, Tasha.” 

“And you are an actual menace.” She set Tony back on the ground and blew a kiss towards Bucky. “Go well with you, darling.” 

“Go well.” Pepper repeated. “And if you need anything, do not hesitate to come and visit.” 

“Thank you.” Bucky put a hair to his shoulder length hair when it wafted in a breeze of _magic_ from the other witches. “For trying to help me. Sure do appreciate it.” 

“He talks like a good ol’ boy.” Tony whispered up to Natasha, and she gave him a swift _light_ kick in the butt so he’d shut up. “Ow! I didn’t say that was a bad thing! Quit kicking me!” 

“Tony darling.” Pepper crouched down and scratched her fingers into the cat’s thick fur, ruffling it up one way and then smoothing it back down carefully. “Listen and listen well. You learn your lesson this time around, or I promise by _Medusa_ I will shave you bald and weave myself a Persian rug from your fur, do you understand?” 

Tony turned his back on the witch, kicking out with his back paws like he was throwing dirt at her, then stalked away towards the front door, not pausing to see whether or not Bucky was coming along too. 

“Guess I better go after him before he figures out he’s gotta walk the two miles to the house.” Bucky rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly. “Thank you, ladies. Ma’ams. Dunno why Tony’s willin’ to get stuck with a know nothin’ witch like me but I’ll try real hard to make it work.” 

“You’ll do just fine.” Pepper wound her fingers through Natasha’s and tugged her love in close to her side. “And if you need anything… ?” 

“I’ll come by.” Bucky flashed them a shy, charming smile that had both the women _hmm_ ’ing in interest, then ducked out the door of Magic and Magnolias and went to find his familiar. 

“This was the right decision.” Pepper said quietly, hesitantly. “Right?” 

“Too late to back out of it now.” Natasha sounded more confident than she felt. “They will be a good match. There is a depth to Bucky that will surprise Tony as they get to know each other, and despite his sass and general ridiculousness, Tony has too soft a heart to ignore someone so clearly in need. They will be fine.” 

“Tony’s heart has changed much in the last century.” Pepper whispered doubtfully. “He is no longer the sweet child we watched grow up.” 

“His heart is hidden now, yes.” Natasha agreed after a moment. “The loss of Jarvis and then Peggy’s curse hardened him to the world, but it wouldn’t change his heart, not Tony. He is still good and still sweet. They’ll be fine.” 

“I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.” the other witch finally relented. “Perhaps we’ll send Bucky some honeysuckle starters, don’t you think? To ward against spirits of doubt and any future hexes?” 

“Isn’t Tony allergic to honeysuckle?” 

“Only enough to make him sneeze.” Pepper’s smile was nearly devilish. “And who can resist kitten sneezes? I’ll deliver it tomorrow morning at sunrise.” 

“You think sneezes will be a good start to the witch-familiar bond?” Natasha laughed at her love and stood on her toes for a kiss. “Is that your devious matchmaking plan?” 

“Nothing devious about it.” Pepper protested innocently. “But no one can hear Tony sneeze and not think he’s adorable, and that’s usually a good start to this sort of thing.” 

“ _Sneezing_?” 

“No, thinking Tony is adorable.” 

“Ah, well then yes. I completely agree. Honeysuckle it is.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to the story!   
> I’d like to preface this part by saying that while I usually do an insane amount of research for my fics and stick close to accurate information, for the sake of this witchy one I’ve mixed and matched my favorite ideas from varying spiritual beliefs. I’m only warning you guys so no one gets offended like “that’s not what (we) believe!”-- it’s just for the sake of the verse and so I can sprinkle in whatever spiritual/mystic things I want without having to do hours of research to make sure they are witch/belief specific.   
> Enjoy!

"I’ve never actually been out this way from town.” Tony commented as he picked his way over the cobblestone path that led off the main street and towards the woods. “Why do you live here when most the witches live on the other side?” 

There was no answer from Bucky and Tony twitched his nose irritably then continued, “How far is it anyway? My paws can only take so much walking before giving out. I have delicate beans, you know.” 

“Delicate beans.” Bucky readjusted his pack over his right shoulder and glanced back at the familiar. “What does that mean?” 

“My beans.” Tony repeated. “The soft pink part of my feet?” 

“You call them beans?” 

“Uhhh the nice people who pick me up and tell me I’m adorable and perfect call them beans.” Tony said flatly. “Why, what do you call them?” 

“I dunno.” the witch glanced back again. “Cats are meant to be apex predators, ain’t ya? Why don’t you call them _feet_. Feel like lions and tigers don’t call ‘em beans.” 

“Well they aren’t as pretty as I am.” the familiar paused to sniff at a flower growing from the cracks of the cobblestones. “Honestly though, how far out do you live? My _beans_ are a’barkin’ and there is no end in sight to this cobblestone roadway here. I feel like a proper witch would offer their familiar a ride. “

“Feel like a proper familiar would be able to walk a couple miles without a runnin’ commentary.” Bucky readjusted his pack for the third or fourth time in so many minutes and then motioned ahead. “We’re here anyway, s’just right here through the willows.” 

“Oooh willows.” the familiar sat up on his hind legs and batted at one of the hanging branches. “Good choice. Is your magic linked to nature or are you more of the elemental variety?” 

“Um, I dunno.” the question bothered Bucky the same way any questions about his powers did, and he grimaced as he crossed the thresh hold of the clearing, the base of his neck buzzing as he moved into another witch’s space. “Does that matter?” 

“Of course it matters. And also, it’s not a question you should be shy about, it’s as common as me asking your name. Sheesh, I knew you were a newbie witch but that is–” 

– Tony stopped stock still, one paw lifted over the boundary of the clearing, electric blue eyes narrowing in confusion. “This isn’t right. Why isn’t this right? Whose house is this?” 

“Mine.” the witch pulled out keys and opened the door to the cottage. “You coming or what?” 

“No, I’m not coming.” Tony put his paw down and backed up several steps. “No. Bucky, as a familiar I can’t cross into another witch’s space uninvited but I should be able to cross _your_ space invited because we’ve been bound by the match makers. So why are my whiskers actually buzzing right now telling me to stay the hell off this property?” 

Bucky didn’t answer right away and the familiar backed up another step, sat down to really _look_ at the clearing and the little cottage at the center. There was no ash tree planted near the northeast corner of the home to settle roots and bring healing with every sunrise, no honeysuckle planted in the boxes at the sill to ward away malcontent spirits. No pieces of moonflower at the doorway to call the blessings of the lunar cycles nor sage dried and hung ready for use in spells. 

There wasn’t even a symbol inscribed on the door frame to mark the cottage as a witch’s property much less as _Bucky’s_ property and Tony twitched his tail once, twice, then realized– “This isn’t your house.” 

“Well, I guess not in the technical sense.” Bucky shrugged half heartedly. “I’m renting.” 

“YOU’RE RENTING?!” The feline shrieked, and Bucky jumped at the noise. “What the hell kinda witch _rents_?! You have to have an ash tree on your very own property! You have to have roots at your home base! Why don’t you have roots to steady your magic!?” 

“Because I’m renting.” the witch repeated. “Guess the lease agreement didn’t have a clause about an ash tree. What’s the harm?” 

“Oh my god.” Tony’s left eye twitched a few times. “Oh Medusa I’m actually having an aneurysm right now. _What’s the harm_ is that if your magic doesn’t have roots, your magic might as well be fireworks. Just blasting out there and making noise, looking pretty but accomplishing basically nothing. How do you not have an ash tree?” 

Bucky pursed his lips. “I’m _renting_. You coming or not?” 

“I have to be invited onto another witch’s property.” Tony shook his head. “Can’t cross the boundary without burning up a little bit and since my beans are extra sensitive today anyway–” 

“You and your goddamn beans.” The witch rolled his eyes hard enough to hurt and then snapped his fingers and pointed to the Welcome mat in front of the door. “Tony! Please come here! You are officially invited onto my rented property!” 

Cautiously, carefully, Tony placed a paw over the clearing boundary and when his whiskers didn’t catch fire, he took another few steps in and huffed out a relieved breath. “Okay, not going to combust. Here we go, walking into another witch’s rented house. First time for everything I suppose, can’t help but wish maybe this time around Pep and Tasha had– _eep_!” 

The cat yelped in surprise when he was suddenly scooted right into the house courtesy of the gentle but still pretty damn pushy side of Bucky’s boot. “Hey hey hey hey HEY! Easy on the goods witchy boy! This booty is my most valuable asset!” 

“I don’t um–” Bucky paused, then shook his head. “You know what, I don’t even know where to begin with that. Just get inside so I can shut the door, air conditioning isn’t free and you’re letting it all out.” 

“Air conditioning isn’t free, he says.” Tony mocked. “Conjure yourself up a stiff breeze and quit bitching about it.” 

“If I didn’t know I needed an ash tree, why d’ya think I know how to make the wind blow?” the witch pointed out and the familiar practically screeched,

“Because learning about ash trees is _Lesson One_ of witchery and magic! What sort of witch doesn’t know about an ash tree or about–” Tony stopped mid shout, partly because he was frustrated that his cat-form shouting wasn’t half as fierce as he wanted, partly because Bucky’s face fell and Tony had the sudden, uncomfortable realization that he was being _mean_. 

“Never mind.” Tony cleared his throat and flexed his claws into the carpet a few times. “Where is your potion room? I’d like to see what you have so I know where to start with your training.” 

“Uh…” Bucky unwrapped a loaf of bread and pulled out a knife to start slicing it. “Over there by the table?” 

“Your potion room is a shelf by the table.” Tony twitched his nose as he measured the height of the table, then with a little _mrrrp_! leapt up onto the surface and sniffed curiously at the few assorted bottles crammed haphazardly into the corner. “Meditation and… healing. That’s it? These other bottles are empty! Where’s the rest of your potions?” 

“Don’t need anything but those ones.” Bread sliced, the witch opened the fridge and rummaged around for last nights left overs. “No sense in making the rest if I don’t need ‘em.” 

“That’s not true at all.” The familiar stated flatly. “You need at least ten– several potions of varying degrees of strength, at least one healing infusion though judging by the way you carry that shoulder you should have more on hand, and you definitely need a few salves. What happens if you get hurt?” 

And with a sideways glance at the witch, “Or if your present pain gets _worse_?”

“Band-aids.” Bucky plunked down a box of bandages and went back to making food. “Wrap a couple of those one whatever’s bleeding and everything’s fine.” 

“Uh-huh.” Tony just blinked at him. “What happened with your arm anyway?” 

“Nothing.” some day old veggies were tossed in with a liberal amount of garlic and set to cooking on the stove. “Nothing serious, anyway.” 

“Bippity boppity bullshit.” Tony snorted. “What happened? Witch’s and familiars aren’t supposed to have secrets.” 

“Well I don’t want to talk about it.” A pan slammed down a little harder than necessary. “Why don’t you tell me why you’re cursed to be fuckin’ _fluffy_?” 

“I told you, I sassed my Auntie.” the feline sounded bitter. “There, now I’m not keeping secrets from you, so you should stop keeping secrets from me. What’s with the arm or lack there of?” 

“You sassed your Auntie.” Bucky looked as if he didn’t believe it a single bit. “Your _Auntie_? I’m sposed to believe your Auntie is powerful enough to bind you to four paws and a tail? Nah, now _I’m_ calling bippity boppity bullshit.” 

Tony narrowed his eyes but the witch just waited, and finally the feline twitched his tail and muttered, “Think whatever you want then.” and stalked away to explore more of the cottage. 

If Bucky didn’t want to kick start their bond by sharing secrets then fine. It was pretty obvious this particular match wasn’t going to solve Tony’s problem anyway, so if the witch didn’t want to get chummy… _fine_. 

He’d just get started being nosy and hopefully bedtime would come soon. 

The cottage was nearly bare in the way that most rentals were, the bed pushed into the corner covered by a generic quilt, the pictures on the wall carefully neutral so no residual witchy influence could enter the home through a portrait or painting of anything with specifically magic connotations. 

There was a spell book on the corner of a beautifully oaken desk– expected of course, since oak meant knowledge and a connection to the spirits– but while the desk was polished to a high shine and obviously carefully preserved, the spell book was faded and pages torn, the binding stretched and worn, the clasp hanging crooked on its hinge. 

This was a book that had been used for a very long time, but not cared for, most likely slammed in frustration, carted around out of a sense of duty not of reverence and Tony put a careful paw on the cover so he could test the thrum of _power_ through the pages. 

But the spell book was weak, emanating nothing more than a light buzz which meant most of the magic had leeched away and most of the spells were lying dormant, useless without a witch to give them reason to exist. 

A witch with no ash trees to put down roots, a rented cottage and a faded spell book. Scars and trauma and no idea whether or not his magic was linked to the basic elements or the life spell of nature herself. Bucky moved like he _hurt_ but had only one half used pain potion, he wasn’t old enough to have forged a strong enough familiar bond to be devastated over a loss but the witch had gone to match makers to find a companion like only the most desperate did. 

There was clearly more to Bucky besides a lack of interest and knowledge in most things _witchy_ and Tony wasn’t sure if Pepper and Natasha had purposefully left it out of their discussion to force Tony to share something emotional with his new witch–

–or if the formidable pair with all their wisdom honestly didn’t _know_.

“What’s this box?” Tony paused in his exploration by a deep box stuffed with freshly laundered but clearly worn blankets. “Do you keep something in here? Artifacts maybe?” 

“They said I was gettin’ a cat, so I figured I should get you a bed.” Bucky said from the kitchen. “Didn’t know how many blankets you’d want so you can add more or get rid of some or whatever you want.” 

“You think I’m going to sleep here.” The familiar stated. “In a box. You think I’m sleeping in a _box_?” 

The witch kept stirring his food and shrugged, one shoulder lifting and falling, the other barely moving at all. “I guess?” 

“Well guess again, Hocus Pocus.” Tony snorted, and Bucky’s lips lifted in what might have been a barely there half smile. “A box. What the fuck.”

The cat kept muttering but Bucky tuned him out and kept working on dinner, or at least the left overs that were _passing_ for dinner. He didn’t cook much these days, but truth be told, Bucky hadn’t ever cooked much _ever_. An appetite seemed just as difficult to come by as a decent night’s sleep, the energy required for cooking a waste of effort when food pretty much tasted like sawdust ever since he’d lost his arm. 

Almost seventy years now and Bucky hadn’t ever gotten used to the _emptiness_ on his left side, the phantom pains had gotten worse as time went on and his clumsy attempts at healing potions hadn’t helped in the least. Established covens didn’t take well to lone witches, and even the communities willing to initially accept him had taken one look at the scars, at the mark on his shoulder and set him right back on the road _alone_. 

This town had only been another stop on the map, another check in with a magical place because even though Bucky wasn’t welcome anywhere, being around other witches even from a distance helped with the loneliness. This cottage had been for rent and the absurdly ancient Natasha had found him in the grocery shop and decided that he apparently needed a familiar and now–

– well now at least Bucky had a place to stay. The cottage was bare was livable, the town tiny but so far friendly, and though Natasha and her love Pepper made his skin prickle with their barely restrained power, at least Natasha had seen his scars and his star and her green eyes had dimmed in _sympathy_ instead of widened in fear. 

So now he had a place to stay, and a couple witches that were willing to have him in their town, and also a familiar who was not quite a familiar but more of a mega powerful witch _cursed_ familiar and it wasn’t the best situation but hey, it was better than everything else this too long life had given him. 

And besides, Bucky was sort of a failure of a witch and Tony seemed like a failure of a familiar… maybe they’d get along for that reason alone. 

“Uh Tony?” He turned around to talk to the cat, offer some dinner or maybe even an attempt at actual conversation since he’d shut down the mention of his arm earlier. “Do you want any—“

“Can’t hear you!” The feline called, nothing more than a hind paw and a fluffy tail disappearing around a corner to the bathroom. “No time for chit chat while I’m being nosy!” 

“Should have got a dog.” Bucky muttered. “Dogs always wanna hang out and eat. Pooch never would trade sittin’ with me to be nosy, would come running right over here to sit with me. Dang cat.”

It turned out eating dinner with a cat ignoring him was pretty much like eating dinner alone so Bucky started in on his plate, methodically eating bite after bite, putting his fork down to get a drink, picking it back up and forcing himself through the motions. Since food didn’t really taste good anymore he only cooked one meal a week and ate left overs the next several days, and since tonight’s meal was day six of this particular fare, it was harder than usual to clean his plate, to take in the calories his body required just to function.

Bucky missed the days when simple tasks didn’t feel impossible.

Still, the witch was nearly finished when he finally tuned in to the indignant huffs and the sting of staring eyes, and Bucky looked up in surprise, startling when he found the familiar glaring irritably in his direction. “What’s the matter? I thought cats liked to be ignored.” 

“Well first of all, I’m not actually a cat.” Tony picked his way carefully between the dishes on the table, wrinkling his nose in disdain at the wilted flower arrangement. “I’m a familiar and I’m not actually a familiar, I’m a witch cursed to the familiar form. And second of all, I hate being ignored. I prefer to be the one doing the _ignoring_.” 

“I don’t care about any of that.” Bucky stabbed at another piece of meat and tried not to sound so exhausted. “Besides, I tried talking to ya earlier, but you showed me your butt and said you’d rather be nosy. Wasn’t that you pretty much demanding to be ignored?” 

The familiar made a noise that might have been a snort and then said, “I’m hungry.” 

“There’s a pond out back.” Bucky took a bite of his food again, washing away the bland taste with a drink of water. “Go fish or something.” 

“What!” Tony’s hair poofed up all along his back in shock and if Bucky wouldn’t have been so annoyed with his not-really-a-familiar he might have laughed at it. “I don’t eat fish! And I definitely am not going to catch my own dinner! Be civilized!” 

“My god, you really are a pain in the ass.” the witch shoved back from the table and went to get another plate, grumbling under his breath the entire way and missing how Tony’s eyes lit curious, magical _blue_ as the familiar stared at where Bucky’s left arm was missing, as the cat watched him fumble around trying to work with one hand. 

“Here, have some of my dinner.” Bucky finally made it back and scooped part of his meat-potatoes-and peas onto the plate and shoved it towards the cat. “How’s that?”

Tony bent down and sniffed the food a few times, then sat back on his haunches and waited until the witch looked up again before promptly batting the plate right off the table with a swipe of his paw. 

“WHAT IN THE–” 

“I don’t like peas.” the familiar said primly, then very _un_ -primly shrieked when Bucky grabbed him up by the scruff of his neck and carried him towards the door. 

“Yeah, you’re sleeping outside tonight.”

“Wait! No!” Tony was pretty sure a full pound of hair stress-puffed off his body when he was suddenly and unceremoniously plopped onto the Welcome mat and the cottage door was closed in his face. “Bucky! Damn you, come back and let me inside!” 

“Can’t your beans open the door?” the snarky witch called from inside and the familiar looked down at his little feet and muttered, “They’re pretty beans not _magic_ beans.” 

And then louder so Bucky could hear him, “You know, most witches would be thrilled to have a familiar like me! I’m beautiful and smart and when I don’t look like a Muppet I’m pretty damn powerful! A few quirky habits will have to be tolerated!” 

“Flinging food off my table and makin’ a mess isn’t quirky it’s goddamn annoying!” Bucky retorted. “S’gonna take me half the night to clean up all the pieces without cutting myself.” 

“Or you could use a cleaning spell like a real witch and stop being–” the second the words left the familiar’s mouth he was biting down on his tongue to try and take them back, another uncomfortable ripple of _mean_ under his skin. 

“…what I mean to say is that if you don’t let me in right now I’m going to caterwaul at your window until sunrise.” he said instead, because something _wrong_ was tickling at the back of his mind and he needed some time to unpack exactly what it was about Bucky’s situation he was apparently missing. “Or you could let me in now and save us both my unfortunate rendition of _Memories_.” 

“Bucky?” he called a few minutes later, and scratched his claws into the door. “Not liking peas shouldn’t be a deal breaker with this! Let me in!” 

But the witch kept ignoring him, so with an irritated grumble Tony tiptoed his way off the porch step and down into the barren garden plot, skirted around a few rocks so he could see the window closest to the bed inside, then gave a little wiggle and a determined meow and leapt up onto the ledge–

–and _yowled_ at the top of his lungs until the sun had sank below the horizon and the night sky was lit with stars and the lights inside the cottage had turned off so Bucky could try and get some sleep. 

Tony sang _Memories_ in his scratchy cat voice, he rolled over onto his back and wailed along to ‘ _I Will Always Love You_ ’ which wasn’t half as beautiful coming from a kitty as it had been back when he’d seen it performed by the witch Whitney, whose heart had been broken so badly by her human lover that she’d used the power in her voice to break the hearts of everyone else before disappearing entirely. 

Then it was ‘ _Smooth Criminal’_ by the rebellious familiar Michael who’d shed his cat form and dealt with an ever changing _human_ form so he could stay with the mortals until his coven called him back decades later. 

The best singers were always magic and Tony loved music, as a witch he’d traveled incognito to every venue to hear the greats wherever they were found– the symphonies, the concert halls, the piano bars, the _raves_. Tony had loved it all and now he missed it. Music didn’t sound the same to cat ears as it did in a human form, certain chords made his hair stand on end, anything too loud made him hiss and hide. 

So yes, his terrible singing was partly to annoy the hell out of his new witch, but also because music had been the one indulgence he’d hoped to keep after he was cursed, and the hex had taken even _that_ away from him. 

The hex had taken _everything_. 

“… _Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen_.” the familiar sang mournfully, looking up at an uncaring moon. “ _Nobody knows my sorrow. Nobody knows the trouble I’ve-_ -ack!” 

Tony _mrrrowww_!ed in surprise when the window jerked open and one very tired witch glared out at him. “If I let you in, will you shut the hell up?” 

“I can’t promise that.” Immediately snarky, Tony stuck his nose up in the air. “But I can promise if you grab me by the scruff of my neck again, I’ll scratch the shit out of you. I’m not actually a cat, I’m a familiar and I’m not actually a familiar I’m simply cursed to this size so you should watch it cos when I get back to my real body–ACK!” 

Bucky scooped the cat up and chucked him lightly towards the bed. “If you stop talking, you can sleep on the bed.” 

“I’ll sleep on the bed cos I want to.” the familiar sniffed, and then waited until Bucky went to flop back into the mattress before using a little bit of magic and _poofing_ the pillow out from beneath the witches head and re- _poofing_ it on his side.“Also I’ll be needing this pillow.” 

“Should’ve got a dog.” Bucky heaved himself up and stalked over to get another pillow from the linen closet. “Should make you sleep in the damn box.” 

“I’m going to do something terrible to your juice in the morning.” Tony informed him and the witch threatened, “Gonna shave you bald while you sleep.” 

“You wouldn’t dare!” 

“Call you a goblin cat.” 

“No!” 

“Make you wear a sweater over your wrinkly ass.” 

“How dare–!” 

Bucky grinned to himself when he heard the cat practically spitting in frustration, and rolled over to try and get some sleep, feeling like maybe he’d won the exchange and feeling like maybe that meant things would be okay. 

…but when he woke in the middle of the night to eerie blue eyes no more than an inch away from him and kitty fangs bared in a devilish smile, Bucky screamed at the top of his lungs and fell right out of bed to the sound of Tony’s near hysterical laughter. 

Alright, maybe the witch hadn’t won that little exchange after all. 

_Damn cat._


	3. Chapter 3

“Grievance the first– grievance the _first_?” Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Oh god, I’ll need more tea for this.” 

“Just a moment, then.” Natasha ran one brightly polished fingertip around the rim of Pepper’s cup, then tapped twice on the handle and watched from the corner of her eye as it filled with steaming hot, perfectly prepared lavender tea. “There you are.” 

“Only lavender?” Pepper sniffed at it and made a disappointed noise. “I think I’ll need something a smidge stronger to deal with Tony’s list of grievances, I’ve only read the first three words and I already have a headache.” 

“Anything for you, lovely.” Natasha looked away from her own morning reading to take a sip of the tea, then passed it back to her partner. “Better?” 

“If I knew your lips tasted of sweet honey and brandy, I would have let you seduce me at _least_ a hundred years earlier.” Pepper declared after another taste, and hmm’d in pleasure at the added liquor. “Why did you keep this trick hidden for so long?” 

“I needed to know you loved me for me, not for the way my kisses could get you drunk.” the other witch ran her toes affectionately up Pepper’s leg to her knee. “Besides, I’d spend another hundred and fifty years seducing you if only to have mornings like this.” 

“I love you viciously.” Pepper blew Natasha a kiss, and Natasha waited until a stain of pink lips landed on her cheek before whispering back, “ _Viciously_.” 

“Grievance the first.” Pepper had one more endlessly adoring smile for her wife before going back to the list of complaints Tony had sent in after a week with Bucky, sipping at her tea and scanning the items quickly. “Day One, and I am more bored than I have ever been in my entire life, human or feline, send help, I’m dying.” 

“Grievance the second. Day Two, I got nosy in Bucky’s closet and the man only owns red long sleeve shirts. Explain to me how a man with one arm needs shirts with not one, but two full length sleeves. It’s honestly a waste of fabric.

“Grievance the third. Day Three. Bucky has eaten the same food for the last three days. The same food. Three days. No matter how many times I toss peas onto the floor he keeps eating them. I’m starting to suspect sabotage. Don’t know what he’s sabotaging, but I feel like it’s nefarious.” 

“Are we _sure_ Tony isn’t old enough to have spent time with the Bard?” Natasha wanted to know. “Because he is reaching literal Shakespearean levels of drama right now. Sabotage? Seriously? How is he writing this anyway, are you simply translating a thousand different paw prints?”

“Learning to have a pen write for us is a basic skill, Tasha. I know Tony got fancy with his magic in the last years before his hex but _surely_ he still remembers an inscribing spell.” Pepper paused and then added with a quiet laugh, “Either that or he made Bucky write up a list of complaints about himself and honestly, I wouldn’t put that past the cat.” 

“Bratty thing.” Natasha agreed immediately. “Keep reading.” 

“Grievance the fourth: the witch is unfairly hot and I don’t appreciate being stuck in cat form and therefore unable to enjoy it– oh Goddess give us strength.” Pepper groaned. “If the rest of this letter is Tony waxing poetic about Bucky’s looks I’ll actually quit, I swear.”

“You love Tony entirely too much to give up on him.” Natasha denied, opening Bucky’s envelope and unfolding the single sheet. 

“Do I?” Pepper challenged. “Grievance the _ninth_ is that the one time Bucky isn’t wearing a stupid long sleeve shirt he’s walking around in a towel and Tony takes it as a personal slight against his person that the witch has washboard abs he continues to hide away and only offer teasing glimpses of every once in a while.” 

“A tale as old as time, the familiar is horny for the witch and the witch thankfully has no clue.” Nat flipped the page over to check if Bucky had filled both front and back like Tony had. “Oh, interesting. Bucky only has three complaints.” 

“Only three?” Pepper tossed Tony’s letter away and took a gulp of her tea. “I have more complaints than that just reading Tony’s list. What does Bucky have to say?” 

“He says, ‘Tony’s _singing sounds like a strangling cat, which will actually happen if he doesn’t cut that noise out_.’ and _‘He magics my pillows away every night_ ’ and then…” the witch raised a curious eyebrow when she read the last line. 

“What is it, darling?” 

“Bucky says ‘it’s nice not to be so lonely anymore’.” Natasha finished slowly, and Pepper put a hand to her heart. “Is the child so lonely that even a sassy, ornery cat is good company?” 

“Poor thing.” Pepper shook her head. “It isn’t right he’s been alone so long, hopefully Tony calms down and Bucky opens up a little bit so they can help each other.” 

“Honestly, I think they’re doing just fine.” Natasha gathered up the letters and tied with a red ribbon, flicked her fingers and sent them flying towards an identically tied stack on her desk. “I expect a breakthrough any day now.” 

“They’re doing just _fine_.” Pepper echoed blankly. “Sorry, were we reading the same letters?” 

“Tony’s list is all petty complaints mixed with thinly veiled horniness.” Tasha pointed out. “Bucky’s complaints are about Tony’s noise and habit of pillow stealing which we both know isn’t necessarily a mean thing, Tony is just a pillow and bed hog no matter who he is sleeping with. There’s no substance to their complaints which means they’ve settled into something of compatibility together.” 

“Compatibility huh?” Pepper quoted from Tony’s list, “Grievance the Sixteenth: Bucky drinks his coffee straight black, no cream, no sugar, no swirl of honey, just black like a warlock’s soul and three times as bitter. Clearly, he is a monster.” 

Natasha’s shoulders shook when she laughed, “Wonderful. Trust me, they’re doing great.” 

“ _Natasha_.” 

“ _Pepper_. Have some faith, darling. They’ll be just fine.” 

**************

**************

“Oh no, this is not fine.” Bucky sat back from his book abruptly when several pounds of feline shoved under his hands and flopped onto the pages, effectively ruining his concentration and puffing fur into the binding of his novel. “What are you doing? Can I help you with something?” 

“I’m bored.” Tony wriggled further onto the book just to be sure the witch couldn’t see a single word around his body. “Let’s blow something up.” 

“Well adjusted people don’t make statements like that.” Bucky tried to lift his book from beneath the familiar, but Tony had adjusted _very_ well to some of cat’s less desirable habits and simply went dead-weight, and the witch cursed when he suddenly had a cat shaped brick weighing his book down. “Damn it, Tony. Move!” 

“I will not.” the familiar sniffed. “Not until you do something interesting. It’s been an entire week and you are the most boring soul I’ve ever met. If you don’t want to blow things up, let’s at least work spells. Isn’t the whole point of me being here so I help you grow your magic?” 

“I–” Bucky’s jaw tensed. “I guess.” 

“Well then let’s do that.” Tony flicked his thick tail towards the witch’s face. “Besides, there’s only so many times you can read the same book and you’ve read this one front to back at least twice since Sunday. What’s it about anyway?” 

“Interpreting dreams.” the witch admitted softly, almost stiffly, and Tony’s ears perked up curiously. “And how to you know… lucid dream. That sort of thing.” 

“Oh!” The familiar got to his feet and tried to read the words beneath all the charcoal fur on his belly. “Are you one of _those_ witches? The dream weavers? Should I leave a bit of twine beneath my pillow so you can interpret what the knots mean in the morning?”

“You’re making fun of me.” Bucky said flatly and Tony tried hard to look as innocent as possible while also vigorously nodding. “And that’s exactly why no one likes cats.” 

The witch pushed back from the table and went to the kitchen to start lunch and Tony jumped down and followed right behind him, chattering, “That’s categorically untrue you know. Generally speaking, everyone likes cats even if it’s not house sized cats. You ever meet someone and ask if they like tigers and they say ‘no tigers are ugly’? No, no one thinks tigers are ugly, everyone likes some form of cat and if you don’t, you’re lying to yourself.” 

He leapt up onto the counter and jabbed a paw at leftover meatloaf. “Meatloaf sounds like someone took the worst part of an animal and mixed it with the butt ends of a loaf of bread and then tried to trick other people into eating it.” 

“Noted.” Bucky smacked Tony’s paw away when the cat tried to touch it again. “Keep your paws off my food. You don’t want to eat meatloaf, go catch some crickets or something.” 

“Bucky bear, if I don’t catch my own fish what makes you think I’m going to catch bugs?” Tony dodged the next swipe and stuck his nose right onto the meatloaf. “Whoof. What is _in_ there?” 

“…did you just call me Bucky bear?” the big brunette asked in confusion. “Did you– _goddamnit_ , get your nose off my food!” 

“Tomorrow I’m going to cook.” Tony ignored the question about the unintended nickname and pushed the plate of meatloaf away in disdain. “And by me, I mean _you_ and by ‘cook’ I mean I’m going to yell ingredients at you while you throw them in a pot. Agreed?”

Bucky just sighed, cut a piece of meatloaf for himself and shoved it in the oven to warm up, then sighed again and swept Tony right off the counter. 

“Pets stay on the floor.” he stated, only because he knew Tony’s fur would get poofy and his back would arch in instant annoyance and the familiar would make that weird ‘ _ft-ft-ft!_ ’ noise that meant he was pissed. “Next time we go to town I’m going to get you a bowls to eat out of like other house cats.” 

“WHAT!” Tony yelped. “Just for that, the next time I drink out of your water glass I’ll purposefully leave tongue marks on the rim.” 

“You drink out of my glass?!” 

“Well, how else am I supposed to stay hydrated?!” 

Bucky threw up his hands and Tony threw up his front paws and frustrated silence fell over the cottage for several hours while Bucky ate and Tony destroyed a chunk of meat loaf so he could pick out anything that looked even slightly weird and only once Bucky was cleaning up did the witch speak again. 

“Get out of the way.” he poked at Tony with the broom with the feline sat right on the dustpan. “I’ve gotta sweep.” 

“Seriously if you don’t do something magic soon I’ll die of boredom.” Tony pleaded faux pathetically. “Familiars are meant to make spells work and I’m starting to worry my magic virginity is growing back!” 

“That is a terrible sentence.” Bucky groaned. “Don’t say stuff like that!” 

“What, virginity?” the cat gave him a fangy grin. “Is it weird for a cat to have virgini– _ACK_! Don’t hit me with a broom!” 

“Don’t talk about weird things then.” Bucky kept sweeping while the familiar growled and huffed and skittered out of the way. “And stop tracking dirt all over the floor! I’m trying to clean!” 

Tony narrowed his bright eyes at Bucky, then jumped up onto the window and into the dirt filled garden box, stamped his little feet into the muck and jumped back out to walk purposefully, _brattily_ across the counters, down to the floor and tippy tap all the way across the kitchen, smearing dirt every which way in tiny paw prints. 

Bucky ground his teeth together so hard he thought maybe one of them cracked, then swallowed back the fear that threatened to choke him at the thought of doing magic in front of anyone else, and forced out a controlled breath. “Okay. I give up. You want to do magic?” 

“YES!” 

“Let’s do some magic.” the witch sent an uncertain look towards his mostly unused spell book. “Can’t be too much of a disaster, right?” 

“At least not for several hours!” Instantly cheerful because he finally got to do something, Tony ignored– or maybe misread– the look of trepidation on Bucky’s face and danced back and forth on his paws a little bit. “Let’s give it till sundown, I’m sure it will be fine! _Magic_!” 

…It was not fine. 

In fact, attempting magic together was a disaster. 

Bucky had known it was going to be a disaster– there was a reason he hadn’t even cracked his spell book in the week since Tony had come along– but he still hadn’t expected it to be _this_ bad. 

Bucky wasn’t a well versed witch and after so long being shunned from most communities, he’d forgotten even the most basic spells and had to look every single piece up in his book. Tony on the other hand, had been a powerful witch in his own right as a human, tutored under the sorceress Peggy, traveling around the world to learn all he could and hoarding the information in his mind so he could know _everything._

Together, they made a annoyingly incompatible team. 

Bucky, who needed help with even the beginning of spells, and Tony who was so used to being the smartest person in any room, he’d forgotten how _frustrating_ it could be to have so much to learn.

“You’re doing that wrong.” The familiar announced first, perching on the table with rear in the air and front paws close together as he read through the open spell in the book. “You pronounced it wrong, do it again and this time try not to sound like you’re chewing on your tongue in the process.” 

And later, “My god, you need to use a _help me be less awkward_ potion, not a health potion! It said a sprig of chamomile, not an entire pound. You’ll start growing flowers out of your ears if you take all that!” 

“Not gonna take it.” Bucky insisted. “Just trying to get it right!” 

“Well it’s wrong.” Tony knocked the pile of ingredients over. “Start again.” 

Closer to dinner time, “Stop fumbling!” Tony hopped onto his back paws and held the ingredients steady as Bucky mixed them. “Use a levitation spell to hold this stuff for you!” 

“Don’t know a levitation spell.” Bucky bit out. “Not a whole lotta people lining up to teach a one armed witch much of anything!” 

“Yeah well at some point you have to take responsibility for your own learning!” Tony shot back and then– “Oh my god, I’m turning into my Auntie Peggy, she’s said that at least a thousand times to me. This is the worst day of my life.” 

“My day isn’t so great either.” Bucky argued. “Gettin’ yelled at by a know it all cat wasn’t on my list of things to do ever!” 

“I’m not a cat, I’m a familiar!” 

“You’re a pain in the ass!” 

Magic was a _disaster_ , frustrating for both witch and familiar and after several hours, each stormed off to their own corners of the house to sulk about the lack of progress. 

Tony curled into a ball on the windowsill and tried not to let _panic_ claw it’s way into his heart, fighting against the sinking feeling that yet another witch wouldn’t be enough to break his curse. If Ty couldn’t do it how could a witch who didn’t even know the basics do any better? At first Tony had been mildly amused that Pepper and Tasha had unleashed him on some newbie witch but now he was just scared that this was his last chance and it was already doomed. 

Bucky threw himself onto the bed and rolled over onto his side so he didn’t have to see the cat at the window, familiar tendrils of depression and failure sinking deep into his soul. 

He couldn’t do this, he was born a witch but lost his coven too young and instead of continuing in magic, he should have let himself just be mortal, just be _normal_. At least humans would see his disability and think he was someone to be pitied, the familiar saw his disability and was irritated that Bucky hadn’t come up with all these ways to compensate, as if any tricks and illusions would erase the hopelessness that came with every phantom pain, every time someone stopped and stared… 

They went to bed without speaking to each other, and the irritation over attempted magic spilled over into the every day activities for the rest of the week. 

If Bucky and Tony weren’t fighting about magic, they were fighting over left overs for dinner and who had to do the dishes, with Tony screeching, “I have paws! I can’t clean plates!” and Bucky countering, “Your fuckin’ _beans_ could write a letter of complaints, couldn’t they? You can clean the plates!” 

Then came the arguments about cleaning, whether or not Tony would negate Bucky’s security deposit by shedding all over the place and whether or not the familiar even _had_ to shed– “If you aren’t really a cat, why the hell are you shedding so much?!”. 

Bucky complained about Tony’s noise at night and Tony shredded one of Bucky’s shirts under the guise of sharpening his claws, and they snipped back and forth over every failed potion and low level information Bucky had never learned, bitched at each other about Tony’s teaching skills or lack there of, the no-patience approach the familiar had to instructions and how determined Bucky was to not take orders from a four legged feline. 

One day Tony was sleeping belly up in the sun and in a moment of quick regret, Bucky gave the cat a few belly scritches, only to retreat with scratched and bitten fingers courtesy of one _highly_ pissed of familiar. That night there was only peas for dinner and Tony glared at Bucky over his plate while the witch shoveled bites into his mouth and glared right back. 

“Four pages.” Pepper said at the end of that week, pulling Tony’s letter out of the envelope and weighing it in the palm of her hand. “Tell me again how you think these two will be just fine?” 

“I’ll admit things don’t look good right now.” Natasha was already reading Bucky’s list of complaints, lips pursed and brow furrowed. “But we need to give them more time.” 

“More time might actually end in murder.” Pepper handed over her tea cup and Natasha automatically took a quick sip, layering the tea with honey and brandy before handing it back. “Are you sure we’ve made the right decision?” 

“Time, my love.” Natasha repeated. “What is a few weeks when we are meant to live centuries? Let them keep trying.” 

**************

**************

“Keep trying!” Tony cried when Bucky screwed up again, when the potion bubbled up and over again and the spell was mispronounced _again_. “You’ve been around almost a hundred years and you’re barely on the basic spells! You’ll never get anywhere if–” 

“– _shit_!” Bucky cursed out loud when the liquid landed searing on his hand, then cursed louder when he jerked away and upset everything on the table, scattering ingredients all over and knocking the spell book onto the floor. “Goddamnit! _Damn it_!” 

“Okay, I think we’re being a little dramatic, so why don’t we take ten to twenty percent off the top there?” Tony was ready with some snark, some sass and a healthy dose of sarcasm because it had been a hell of a week and he was feeling like he needed to _unleash_ , like he needed to scream and maybe even set something on fire and hearing Bucky curse felt good for some twisted reason.

The witch was close to snapping too so maybe they could both snap, they could both scream and then things could go back to the tentative normal they’d had the week before. 

Tony was ready, tempted to escalate the moment just so Bucky would yell and _he_ could yell and they’d both stop stressing about but then–

–then he looked a little closer and saw the sheen of tears in the witch’s pale eyes, saw the lines of stress in Bucky’s forehead and the way his good hand clenched into a fist and still couldn’t hide trembling fingers. 

_Well shit._

“Bucky?” he asked carefully, took a slow step forward and held out a paw. “Hey, it’s um– I mean, you don’t gotta–” 

“Fuck.” Bucky shoved at the table hard enough to send it crashing into the wall and stalked away, rubbing at his eyes and breathing hard as he sat heavy on the bed and hung his head. “Fuck, I’m so bad at this. Damn it.” 

“Bucky?” the familiar asked again, but the witch didn’t answer, didn’t even look up. 

_“Be nice.”_ Natasha had warned and Tony twitched his whiskers uncomfortably when he saw the dejected slump to Bucky’s shoulders, the way the witch’s hair fell down into his eyes like he was trying to hide. 

_Be nice._

_**{{Authors Note: Tony is speaking (probably poorly translated) Latin because that seems witchy, right?}}** _

“ _Redige hoc pulmentum_.” Tony muttered after a minute, and the mess began to clean itself up. “ _Inveniam locum tuum_.” and the battered spell book shifted and scooted back to the corner of the desk. 

Simple cleaning spells really, a minor incantation that was yet another one Bucky should have known but didn’t, one Tony could use even in this ridiculous form, and he whispered a few more sentences to fix the disaster before gathering up his courage and jumping down, padding towards the bed with quiet paws. 

He didn’t really know how to comfort– well _anyone_ , honestly. Tony Stark was known for his wit, for his magic and for his charisma not for his empathy or sympathy or anything else along those lines which was definitely why Peggy had decided a curse was needed for him to learn those particular traits. 

So no, he didn’t know how to comfort another witch, especially not one like Bucky, especially not when he was in cat form, but Tony got up on the bed and sat close to Bucky anyway.

Bucky didn’t look up, and Tony inched a little closer. 

Bucky still didn’t look up, and Tony got close enough to put his paw on one honestly _wonderfully_ muscled thigh, seriously he might be a cat and feeling guilty for being a brat right now, but he could still appreciate some muscles, right?

“What do you want?” Bucky finally asked when the familiar only sat there for a long time. “You back to make fun of me some more?” 

He was bitter, angry and embarrassed and now he was just _tired_. Bucky wanted to sleep and he wanted to shout at the sky and he sort of wanted to run away and forget everything about the familiar and this town and the way Natasha and Pepper had been so encouraging and he wanted to–

“…What…” The witch’s thoughts derailed when the cat made a quiet _mmmmrp_! noise and hopped onto his lap. “What are you doing?” 

Tony didn’t answer, just kneaded a few times at Bucky’s leg and then hefted his body weight into Bucky’s stomach and settled in like he was going to sleep. 

“You think you can come over and act like a real cat and I’ll forgive you for being an asshole?” Bucky asked irritably, and Tony went tense for a moment, then forced himself to relax and tried for a purr. “Oh hey, are you– are you purring?” 

It was at least five minutes before Bucky lifted a very hesitant hand and pet lightly at the familiar’s back, and when Tony didn’t take his fingers right off, the witch came back for another soft pat. “This okay?” 

Tony’s purr was rusty and unused, hoarse and maybe a little scratchy and definitely not a sound that humans made but he tried anyway, closed his eyes tight and concentrated and _purred_. 

“That’s so sweet.” Bucky sounded hopeless and helpless and relieved, his breath catching and fingers tightening in Tony’s charcoal fur. “Thanks, Tony. This is– you are–” 

“A pain in the ass?” Tony supplied without opening his eyes, and Bucky’s laugh was soft and genuine and warmed the familiar clear through to his beans. 

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I was going to say.” 

“ _Noted_.” 

****************

****************

> _Everything was white and everything was still and Tony realized first that he must have fallen asleep on Bucky’s lap and then second that he was_ dream walking. 
> 
> _“Look at that.” The witch turned familiar looked around the empty space in interest. “Didn’t know I had enough power in my cat body to dream walk anymore and– oh look at **that**.” _
> 
> _Tony’s eyes widened when he realized he was gesturing with **hands** , that his paws had been replaced with elegant fingers and fur had been reduced to black hair shot through with silver. He was human again, or at least human enough to dream walk and when Tony could run his hands down the silk and satin that made up his favorite shirt and vest, when he could clasp the glowing blue medallion around his neck that had been a last gift from the wizard Jarvis, he nearly shouted with joy._
> 
> _“Human again!” he cheered, spun in a circle and pumped his fist in the air. “And I’m sure there’s a song about that somewhere! Thank god I don’t dream about being a cat! I’m human again!”_
> 
> _After spinning and laughing for a few minutes– and with a quick peek into his pants to make sure he was **fully** human formed again– Tony calmed down and took a closer look at his surroundings, at the dream scape he’d inadvertently projected himself into. _
> 
> _It had to be Bucky’s dreams since the witch was the only constant in Tony’s life lately, and they had shared a halfway decent moment just before falling asleep so it made sense Tony had ended up here._
> 
> _But **here** was… well it was sort of awful. _
> 
> _Bucky’s dream was white, plain glaring white. Empty space and no borders, nothing to break the monotony and when Tony set out walking through the space it was several minutes– hours? It was hard to tell time in dreams– before he even found the witch._
> 
> _Bucky was sitting alone in the middle of the space, shoulders hunched and knees drawn up to his chest, pale eyes staring out blankly into the nothing. There was no sound, no wind, nothing but quiet and an unsettling stillness and just to erase the_ unease _crawling down his spine Tony called, “Bucky? My god, even your dreams are boring!”_
> 
> _…the witch didn’t answer, didn’t flinch or blink like he’d heard Tony speak, and the familiar called again, “It’s rude to ignore me! I came all this way through your psyche to hang out in dreams and you’re just going to– ooph!”_
> 
> _Tony recoiled when he ran into a barrier, a glass wall that rose out of nothing and kept him separated from the witch on the other side. “What the hell…? If I wake up and my kitty nose is crooked I’m going to shred every shirt in your closet.” he decided, and still the witch didn’t stir. “Can you hear me? Bucky?”_
> 
> _Silence, and Tony ran his hands along the glass and followed it as far in one direction as he could then backed up several steps until he could find the walls on all four sides and realized what was happening._
> 
> _It was a cage. Bucky had dreamed himself into a **cage**._
> 
> _“You’ve walled yourself off even in your dreams.” the familiar said softly, curiously. “Why would you ever do that? Who are you trying to keep out? And what–” Tony gulped when he saw the mark on Bucky’s body. “–what the hell is that.”_
> 
> _There on the witch’s left shoulder, on a spot Tony hadn’t ever actually seen since Bucky put a shirt on immediately after a shower and never went to bed without pajamas, there on the few inches left of the limb was a star shining bright through the material of Bucky’s shirt, bold and brazen and unable to hide in the altered reality of a dream._
> 
> _A **red** star and Tony’s heart skittered to a stop because he knew that symbol. He knew the stories of the Lehigh coven, he’d heard how the wizard Alexander had broken through the protective wards of the community to unleash a monster of unimaginable horror. He knew the land had been cursed barren by the blood spilt, that even the greatest witches had collapsed that day as their spirits grieved along with the coven and Tony knew– he **knew** there’s been no no refugees from the devastation, no survivors of the massacre, no one left to carry the star of the coven on their arm. _
> 
> _Yet Bucky was branded anyway, the mark brilliant horrifying scarlet in the awful white of the witch’s subconscious._
> 
> _Bucky was a survivor, but Lehigh had been at least seventy years ago and Bucky hadn’t even seen a century yet._
> 
> _“You were a child.” Tony whispered, his tongue thick in his mouth and throat closing up with realized grief. “You were a child when you lost your coven. You… you escaped all that?”_
> 
> _But watching the witch huddled in the center of the dream, hiding behind walls and staring out with fear wrecking the blue gaze, Tony knew Bucky hadn’t escaped anything at all._
> 
> _Lehigh might have been seventy years ago, but Bucky had been lost for every second of the following years._
> 
> _Be nice, Natasha had pleaded and guilt split the familiar’s heart in two._
> 
> _“I’m sorry.” Tony flattened his hand to the glass wall, then leaned in to press his forehead to it as well. “I didn’t know.”_
> 
> _But the witch didn’t answer, didn’t turn to look at Tony, or even move enough to take a full breath._
> 
> _“Bucky. I’m sorry.”_

*****************

*****************

The next afternoon, Bucky worked on the same spell he’d done the last seven days, the same spell he’d messed up so badly the day before. But this time Tony jumped onto the table and declared, _“Surgere et teneat te!_ ” so the spell book would hover just at eye level so Bucky could consult it before every step. 

The familiar stamped his little paw and snapped, “ _Disce tuum est_!” when an ingredient bowl tipped over, and Bucky’s eyes lit up when the bowl corrected itself and stayed still instead of spilling. 

“ _Mutare forma_.” Tony murmured while Bucky read an incantation from the book and finally, finally, there on the table was their very first potion. It was one of healing and renewed strength, one sure to help Bucky with his pain and exhaustion and it glowed beautifully deep blue in the decanter, infused with a quiet blessing for easier days and mixed to perfect standards now that they were working _together_. 

“It’s beautiful.” Bucky pushed his hair out of his eyes and stared down at the potion. “Tony, it’s beautiful! Thank you!” 

“Calm down.” Bucky’s brilliant smile was doing flip floppy things to Tony’s heart, so the familiar just twitched his tail and acted like he didn’t want to tippy tappy dance in equal excitement. “We made a potion, it’s not like we moved a mountain. You still have a lot to learn.” 

If possible, the witch’s smile stretched even bigger and when Bucky reached out to give pats, Tony butted his head up into his palm to allow them. 

“Thank you.” Bucky said again, softer this time. “This is the first time in my life I’ve felt like I might be a real witch.” 

“Oh yeah?” Tony dipped his paw in the liquid and licked it off experimentally. “Just wait till I teach you an invisibility spell. Then we’ll go spy on Natasha and Pepper.” 

“They’d actually kill us for that.” 

“You know what they say.” the familiar bared his teeth in a kitty approximation of a smile. “To die would be an awfully big adventure.” 

“Nobody says that, Tony.” Bucky denied and Tony insisted, “Sure they do! All the time!” 

“What sort of people say that?!” 

“ _Ghosts_!” 

“Ghosts don’t count, cat! We’re not spying on Tasha and Pepper!” 

“Ugh, you are so damn boring!” Tony flattened his ears and groaned out loud. “You never let me have any fun!” 

Bucky glanced between the irate cat and the perfect potion on the table, then reached for a tie to do up his hair off his shoulders. “Alright fine. Let’s try an invisibility spell.” 

“Really?!” 

“Sure.” the witch shrugged and grinned again. “What’s the worst that could happen?” 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We dive into a little bit of Bucky related angst in this chapter but don’t worry, Tony comes riding to his rescue like everyone’s favorite feline Prince Charming.

“So you can’t in fact do an invisibility spell.” Bucky re-lathered up the washcloth and continued scrubbing at the stains on his arm. “Or did you confuse _invisibility_ with ‘blueberry flavored soul staining ink’?” 

“To be fair, I didn’t take into account the different ways a spell would affect a feline form versus a human form.” Tony sank further into his giant bowl of soapy water, nothing but his little face above the bubbles and massive amounts of hair floating around him in a halo. “I didn’t expect the explosion, neither did I expect the ridiculous color.” 

“Clearly.” Bucky dunked his head back into the bathtub and soaped up his hair. “How long is this gonna stay on us?” 

“Do you remember the witch Wonka?” A bubble landed on Tony’s nose and the feline went cross eyed trying to stare at it. “Had that weird house and got in trouble for being careless with his spells?” 

“No.” Bucky shook his head. “Don’t pay much attention to other witches, Tony. What does Wonka have to do with me being blueberry blue?” 

“Uh…. nothing. Nevermind.” the bubble popped and Tony went back to splashing idly, watching soapy lines of blue fade out of his fur and turn the water almost purple. “You shouldn’t be complaining by the way, you look great in blue. You should be thanking me.” 

“I should be _shaving_ you.” 

“Eh.” the familiar gave a kitty approximation of a shrug. “Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.” 

It was easier after that, after one good spell and one acutely _horrible_ spell and a wonderful camaraderie bloomed from shared blue skin, hair and fingernails. 

Tony would be sassy to the day he died but at least now his comments were layered with something almost close to affection, the bite missing from his sarcasm and _literal_ bite missing from any moments of annoyance that inevitably sprang up. 

Bucky took peas out of the dinner rotation entirely and bought chicken at the market to shred and prepare the way Tony ~~demanded~~ requested, read his spells out loud so Tony could correct any mispronunciations and at night he even put a pillow over at Tony’s side of the bed so the cat would stop _poof_ ing it away. 

When the day to day things worked without devolving into chaos, non magic related moments started inching towards domestic and maybe even friendly and as the days rolled into weeks, the heart to heart bond that was so essential to witch-familiar relationships finally began to spark between the pair. 

“Peggy told me I needed to learn some humility.” Tony offered one day as he shredded dandelion blooms for their next attempt at a potion. “She told me I was too young to be half so confident and when one of my spells got out of control and nearly hurt someone, she got mad.” 

“Spells get outta control all the time.” Bucky paused in his mixing and re-read the incantation for the third time so he wouldn’t screw it up when it came time to recite. “I’m still scrubbing blue outta my scalp from the invisibility thing. Sometimes people get hurt. Why was she so mad?” 

“She said it should _scare_ me that someone was almost hurt. But I said that they weren’t actually hurt, so why did it matter.” the familiar tipped over his bowl and pawed the dandelion out onto the table. “So she hexed me into this form till I learned some empathy and humility.” 

“Uh huh.” Bucky scooped up the dandelion and added it to the mix. “So how’s that going?” 

“Well, I’ve been a cat for about a billion years now so you tell me.” Tony batted at Bucky’s hand when the witch tried to add too much liquid. “Stop that, you’re doing it wrong.” 

“You’re rude.” Bucky batted the cat right back. “Billion years, huh? Is that why your hair’s gone gray?” 

“WHAT?!” Tony puffed up instantly, eyes wide and ears laid back and aforementioned gray fur fuzzed out. “I am not gray! I am not old enough to be gray!” 

“Sure you are.” Bucky countered with a sly smirk. “How old are you in human years, anyway?” 

“It’s rude to ask a cat their age.” Tony sniffed primly, settling his fur back down and going back to his spell. “If I was a lady, I’d slap you for being pertinent.” 

“You not being a lady hasn’t stopped you from slapping me.” the witch stated, and checked off the last ingredient on their list to make sure the potion was ready. “You slapped me earlier today cos your eggs were runny.” 

“I struck you lovingly with the soft side of my paw cos you cracked a raw egg on my plate and told me to quit yowling for food.” Tony corrected, and scooped up just a tiny bit more of dandelion leaf to add to the bowl. “And for the record, I’m still young for a witch. Just over two hundred.” 

“Twice my age, huh?” 

“Yeah, you’re a baby witch.” Satisfied Bucky wasn’t going to blow the roof off the cottage with a mismatched spell, Tony decided his work was done for the day and rolled over into the patch of sunshine on the table to sun his belly. “Thank goodness you have someone powerful and wise like me to show you the way.” 

“Is that what you’re claiming these days?” Bucky hesitated, then hesitated again and then finally reached out to give scritches on the familiar’s soft belly. “That you’re powerful and wise instead of hairy and spiteful?” 

Tony cracked an eye at the witch, then wriggled a little closer and closed his eyes again. “Who says I can’t be all of the above?” 

****************

> _“Can you hear me?” Tony tapped on the wall a few times and watched closely to see if the witch huddled inside the glass cage reacted at all. “Bucky? I know I said your dreams were boring but I’d take it back if you’d just acknowledge how absolutely cool I am for being able to dream walk out of my familiar form.”_
> 
> _The witch didn’t answer just like he hadn’t answered the past several times Tony had let himself into Bucky’s psyche and wandered around the empty surface._
> 
> _“Why do you do this?” Tony slid down onto the floor and crossed his legs, propped his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. “Most witches practice for decades before learning how to physically control their dreams but you can actively choose where your consciousness goes when you sleep despite having set the table on fire this morning. So why do you choose to lock yourself up in nothing?”_
> 
> _The silence was almost painful against Tony’s ears and he wondered idly if being stuck as a cat for so long had translated into his human form having weird catlike issues like enhanced hearing._
> 
> _“Are you worried about nightmares?” he asked through the barrier. “About your magic flexing and hurting someone?”  
> _
> 
> _No answer._
> 
> _“We should plant honeysuckle.” he told dream-Bucky. “It keeps evil spirits away and maybe if we keep them away in your waking hours, you’ll be able to dream instead of hiding away in here. You look lonely and I don’t really like that._
> 
> _No answer._
> 
> _“…Bucky?” Tony swallowed uncomfortably. “I’m getting worried about you.”  
> _

*************

“We should plant honeysuckle.” Tony told the witch the next morning. “We should plant an ash tree too, and at least some sunflowers but also definitely honeysuckle.” 

“Why’s that?” Bucky looked exhausted today, dark rings under his eyes and hair rumpled from tossing and turning all night. He hadn’t slept well the last several nights, his usual dream meditation interrupted by the feeling that someone was watching, lurking, that something was _hovering_ just out of range of his safe space inside his own head. It hadn’t felt malicious, hadn’t felt dangerous, but the presence had disrupted his calm anyway and after several days of hardly any sleep, Bucky was miserable and faltering. 

…and scared, because when he was overly tired the nightmares were always worse and he didn’t want one tonight or any time soon. “Why uh– why honeysuckle, Tony?” 

“Cos it’s pretty.” Tony kept his eyes trained on the toaster, watching carefully, _closely_ so when the toast popped it wouldn’t scare him off the counter like it had done yesterday. “And it keeps the evil spirits away.” 

“But then you wouldn’t be allowed in the house anymore.” the witch said tiredly.

“Oh har-dee-har-har.” The familiar’s ears flattened warily when the smell of nearly finished toast reached his nose and he tensed in preparation for the noise. “Fine, don’t plant it. I’m allergic anyway and would just sneeze the whole time.” 

“That sounds _exactly_ like something an evil spirit would say. What are you hiding beneath those whiskers, cat?” The toaster pop!-ed and Tony yowled and fell off the counter right into Bucky’s outstretched palm, because the witch remembered the familiar splatting onto the floor the last time this happened. “Were you scared of toasters when you were human?” 

“ _I’m not scared of toasters_!” 

“Say’s the pussy cat with his claws digging into my wrist.” Bucky hefted the cat onto the counter and went to wash his hand before going back to cooking. “You okay?” 

“Yeah.” Tony glared at the offending appliance. “My magic is linked to iron which is the base of everything steel and I think cat-me has taken that link and magnified it to the point of–” 

Bucky just looked at him, and Tony sighed. “Basically my magic is so compressed in this form that it comes out in weird ways, and the longer a timer ticks down on anything remotely mechanical, the harder everything vibrates through me. It’s annoying.” 

“You got a headache?” Bucky was exhausted but he still took the time to scratch at Tony’s ears gently. “Would honeysuckle help with that? Drive the evil spirit of technology from your body by way of allergies?” 

“Keep talking and I’m gonna–” 

Tony shut up when the witch unplugged the toaster and the hum buzzing down the familiar’s spine finally eased. “Oh. Thank you.” 

“Yeah, kitty.” Bucky gave up on breakfast and stumbled back towards the bed. “I’m gonna sleep some more, okay? You okay out here alone?” 

“I’m an apex predator, Bucky. I can handle being alone in a countryside cottage for a few hours.” 

“You’re forty pounds of irritation and claws.” 

“I am sixteen pounds at the _most_ ” 

Whatever Bucky mumbled in response was lost in his pillow as he fell face first onto the mattress, and after a quick nibble at not quite cooked bacon and eggs, Tony jumped from counter to table to floor and trotted over to the bed. 

“Can I come up, too?” 

The witch mumbled something that might have been, “ _When have you ever asked before doing anything?_ ” and Tony took that as permission to leap onto the blankets and pick his way towards the pillows. Bucky rolled over a little bit and hugged one of his pillows tighter, hiding his face beneath his long hair and groaning quietly when Tony booped at him. “Leave me alone!” 

“Tell me about your magic.” Without the buzz of plugged in appliances running through his veins, Tony felt like he could finally breathe and he nudged in close and booped at Bucky’s nose again in appreciation. “Do you know anything about it at all?” 

“Think it’s linked to nature.” the witch pushed the feline away again and rolled onto the other side so he didn’t get a face full of fur. “Maybe winter. Dunno what it feels like to be powerful, but I always feel better when it’s cold, when it snows.” 

“Okay, Elsa.” Tony wibbled and wobbled as he crossed the pillow so he could see Bucky’s face again. “When winter comes we’ll try some outdoor spells. Get you grounded to nature and see what happens.” 

“When winter comes.” Bucky repeated. “You think you’ll still be here when it snows?” 

“Bucky bear, at the rate I’m going I’ll be here till the world ends.” Tony turned in a few circles and burrowed down into the blanket to sleep next to Bucky. “Lucky you, huh?” 

Bucky finally smiled a tiny bit and rested his hand on the big cat’s rear, petting lightly until Tony’s tail lashed out to smack him in the face as a warning to _stop_. 

“Sheesh. Sorry.” 

“I’m trying to sleep and touching my butt just makes me horny.” Tony reprimanded and Bucky grimaced, “Yikes that’s weird, don’t say that. You’re a _cat_ , Tony.” 

“I might be furry and feline, but I’m still a man.” the familiar snipped. “In my human form, my butt would put you on the floor. You’d actually drool over the roundness of my rear.” 

“Annnnd on that note, I’m gonna face the other way.” Bucky turned back to the other side of the bed and Tony grinned to himself and settled in for a mid morning nap. 

*****************

> _Everything was white and still until it **wasn’t** , and then Tony was running as fast as he could across the endless space to get to Bucky, to get to the screaming and the noise and the horror that had forced its way through the walls of the witch’s mind. _
> 
> _The thing had tentacles, had multiple heads and rows and rows of teeth. It was blood red one moment and then vile black the next, a Hydra monster and a nightmare, a cursed creature set loose by another witch’s wrath, and the demon from Bucky’s past._
> 
> _Bucky was screaming, the Hydra monster **screeching** , the witch scrambling back against the walls of his self made cage and covering his face with his arm, the creature shoving through the cracks in the glass and reaching– reaching–_
> 
> _“Bucky!” Tony slammed both hands onto his side of the wall and shouted for his witch. “Bucky! Let me in so I can save you! Let me in so I can save you!”_
> 
> _The far wall shattered beneath the weight of **terror** , teeth and tentacles and stench roiling over the shards to rush towards the stranded witch and Tony dug both hands into his hair and cursed his helpless, cursed his Auntie for taking so much of his magic, cursed _himself _for being so foolish and cocky to end up in the position when he couldn’t even help someone who mattered._
> 
> _Tony screamed his frustration to the white nothing outside the box of horrors, then set his teeth and straightened his shoulders, called every bit of dormant magic from his bones and pulsed it out through his hands in a bolt of bright blue._
> 
> _The glass melted beneath his magic and Tony burned his legs as he climbed over the molten edges but he didn’t let it stop him as he raced to Bucky’s side. “I’ve got you!” He cried over the noise of the monster, over the sound of Bucky’s screams and the way they landed physical and awful on his soul. “Bucky, I’ve got you! Hold on!”_
> 
> _Another blast of power towards the monster and the thing recoiled with a shriek, Tony kept one hand over Bucky’s eyes and kept the other palm out towards the Hydra, shoving the mass back through the cracks of the walls, pushing it far enough that he could move the atoms of the glass and weld them back together. It was an ugly scar across a previously pristine wall, a disfigured slash across what had once been protecting the witch and there was a lesson there, a metaphor about Bucky’s past and the scars cat-Tony didn’t have but human Tony kept hidden beneath his clothes._
> 
> _But now wasn’t the time for personal reflection or whatever lesson Tony needed to learn. Right now Tony needed to rescue his witch and this was a dream which meant he had no trouble scooping Bucky’s bulk up into his arms and running towards the melted wall and away from the **thud-thud-thud** of the Hydra throwing itself against the other side and the moment Tony set foot over the barrier of the room–_

–Bucky woke up screaming, crying, thrashing around in the bed and Tony just curled as close as he could, meowing and trying to purr and trying not to cry in shared pain as his witch sobbed into the pillows. 

“It’s okay.” he whispered and Bucky bit out a frustrated curse. “Bucky it’s– it’s okay. We’re gonna be okay. I promise.” 

***************

The afternoon sun was warm and golden through the windows of their cottage when Tony finally got up the courage to go and sit next to Bucky. The big brunette had been wrapped up in a quilt and staring out at the empty garden for hours now, and when Tony jumped up onto the arm of the easy chair, Bucky only shifted a little and sighed. 

“You uh–” the familiar cleared his throat. “You’ve spent decades working on a spell to keep yourself from dreaming, haven’t you? Cos when you dream it’s only nightmares?” 

“…yeah.” Bucky’s voice was hoarse from screaming and Tony nudged a cup of tea closer to the witch. “Must not be a real good spell though, or you wouldn’t have gotten through.” 

“You knew that was me?” 

“Your voice is the same.” Bucky muttered. “Voice and your hair, human you and kitty you have got sorta a dumb amount of hair.” 

It should be a joke but Bucky was so tired and miserable that Tony couldn’t even smile. Instead he hooked his claws in the quilt and tugged it down past Bucky’s left shoulder so he could see the red star, then down a little further to see the mess of scars and pushed his forehead onto the ruined skin in a moment of deep sympathy. “I’m sorry about what happened to your coven.” 

And after another minute, “And I’m sorry I was so callous about you not knowing any magic when we first met. How old– uh, how old were you when it– when the Hydra–” 

“I was twenty five.” Bucky’s pale eyes closed when a soft soft paw patted at his mark. “Not even old enough to have started any training. The old covens like Lehigh, they raise witches meant to be connected to nature so the first thirty, forty years are all spent getting to know the Earth Goddess. They figure if we know the name of every plant, every seed and sapling and the way the water talks then when it comes time to use it with magic, we’re a step ahead.” 

“Not a bad theory.” Tony loafed out next to the witch, tucking his paws under his body and his tail in close to his side. “So you weren’t only young, you barely knew anything at all.” 

“I didn’t know _nothin_ ’.” A flash of anger in Bucky’s voice, there and gone before it amounted to much of anything. “Sure didn’t know enough to help when that thing came outta the water and killed everyone I knew. Didn’t know enough to figure out why Alexander hated us enough to kill us. Dunno why–” 

Softer, “Dunno why _I_ survived.” 

“Bucky–” 

“Should’ve been swept into the sea right along with my home.” the witch finished in a broken whisper. “Stead’a wandering around for seventy years fuckin’ useless.” 

“You’re not useless, you feed me, don’t you?” Tony twitched his whiskers and tried to make his witch smile. “In your dreams, why glass?” 

“Sometimes it’s easier to see what’s out there than to close my eyes and pretend I can’t hear it coming to get me.” Bucky finally shifted over towards Tony and the cat immediately met him halfway, leaning in so he was tucked to the witch’s side. “Cos I already know, you know? I already _know_ what’s coming, and it scares me every time but it’d be worse if I didn’t look.” 

Tony was quiet for a few beats. “You think you’re saving yourself by walling out the nightmares but really you’re just walling yourself in.” 

“Huh?”

“Your dream box.” Tony said softly. “It keeps the bad things out until it doesn’t, but then in the scary moments it keeps you trapped. You need a door.”

“If there’s a door then all the scary things can get in too.” Bucky sounded like he might cry again, hopeless and _angry_ and Tony meow-ed at him comfortingly. 

“Make it an escape hatch. A secret tunnel. A bat cave.” Bucky’s brow scrunched down and Tony clarified, “I forget you don’t know the same people I do. The familiar Bruce is a bat in animal form, and he’s freaky as hell but he’s got the coolest house I’ve ever seen.” 

“Tony–” 

“We call it the bat cave, cos the guy is batty.” the familiar explained, and waggled kitty-brows at the witch. “Get it?” 

“You tell bad jokes.” Bucky reached over with his right hand to scratch behind Tony’s ears. “An escape hatch, huh?” 

“Just one that you know about.” Tony promised. “You and um– maybe me. Just in case.” 

“Just in case.” the witch finally smiled a little bit and the familiar climbed into his lap, then stood on hind legs to boop their noses. “What was that for?” 

“I’m glad you didn’t get swept away with everything else in Lehigh.” Tony said slowly, carefully, the act of being honest about his feelings something he wasn’t particularly used to. “Cos you know, cats hate water. It ruins my hair.” 

“Of course it does.” Bucky scooped Tony up in his arm and pressed his face into all that fur. “Thank you for saving me, Tony.” 

…and as they sat there in the sunshine, a little piece of Tony felt saved too.


	5. Chapter 5

There was a package sitting on their dining room table and one wide eyed _twitchy_ feline staring at the package when Bucky came in from his walk, and the witch took his time kicking out of his shoes and putting away the gathered herbs before asking, “What’cha got there, Tony?” 

“I don’t…know…” The familiar’s eyes dilated to the point of hilarity, every line in the cat’s body tense. “…but…I…want it.” 

“You want what’s in the box?” Bucky came over with a knife so he could cut the packaging. “Does it smell good to you or somethin?” 

“I…don’t…know.” Tony said again. “But you need to open it now.” 

“Move, then.” Bucky shoved Tony’s butt out of the way and opened the box with a swift slice. “Did it come with a tag or anything? Do you know who it’s– _ACK_!” the witch yelped when fifteen pounds of hair and focused intent leapt neatly over his shoulder and right into the box. “Damn it, cat! What are you doing?!” 

“I want this.” Tony blinked up at Bucky from inside the package, thoroughly ignoring the carefully potted and stabilized plants on either side of him. “This right here. I want it.” 

“The plants?” Bucky lifted one of the pots out and peeled back the cover to sniff the leaves. “This smells like mint. Um, this one is basil.” he lifted another one out. “This one is–” 

“ _Achoo_!” The box shook with the force of Tony’s sneeze. “ _Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!_ Ach– goddamnit, put it away!” 

“–This one is honeysuckle.” Bucky finished, and set it aside. “Really are allergic, huh?” 

“Did you think I was– _achoo_!– kidding about that?” 

“I sort of did.” The witch kept unpacking the plants, knocking away Tony’s tail whenever it got in his way. “So what did you want so bad in here? Catnip?” 

“I’m not really a cat, I don’t go cuckoo cuckoo for catnip.” Tony said crossly, squishing down tighter into the box and tucking his paws beneath his body. “I just wanted this. The box.” 

“You wanted the box.” Bucky closed his eyes and counted briefly to ten, then reopened them and peered back down at the cat so contentedly loafed in and settled in the empty package. “You wanted the _box_?” 

“Yes.” Tony’s eyes twitched towards mega dilated again when tape rustled on one of the flaps. “And yes, Bucky I’m aware of the irony of insisting I’m not a cat by not wanting catnip and then doing a wildly cat-like thing like getting half feral over a damn box but you know what, I didn’t choose the kitty life, the kitty life chose me and I can’t really pick and choose which parts of it come out in this form.” 

“Well.” Bucky fought against a smile. “As long as you’re aware of the irony, Tony. I guess that makes it all okay.” 

“Who are the plants from?” Tony stretched his nose up high to sniff curiously at a sprig of basil. “Pepper and Natasha?” 

“Uhhh yep.” the witch finally found a note. “From Pepper and Natasha. They say it’s depressing that I don’t have a garden and that centering ourselves in the Earth Goddess will strengthen the witch-familiar bond. There’s also a warning for you to not eat nothin’ marked with a red dot–” the familiar jerked back from trying to gnaw on a chamomile leaf. “– because even though you the human might not be allergic, you the cat could get very sick.” 

“Noted and noted.” Tony curled back into the box and when Bucky cocked an eyebrow at him, the familiar complained, “What?! Why are you looking at me funny, and so help me Medusa don’t tell me it’s because I’m funny looking.” 

“It’s not that.” Bucky immediately denied, but then just immediately countered, “I mean yeah, cos your fur is everywhere this morning, but I mean…” he shrugged. “I tried to give you a box to sleep in and you shrieked at me and stole my pillow.” 

“But this is a box I chose.” The familiar explained, as if it made any sense in the world. “This is not my box and if you try to take it, I’ll stab you because this is _my_ box and I don’t like people touching my things.” 

“Kay, you stay here in your box.” Bucky jostled the package just to make the cat hiss. “I’m gonna go plant some of these things alright? Come outside if you wanna center yourself in the Earth Goddess or whatever.” 

“Cats don’t like dirt.” 

“That’s a damn lie and you know it.” Bucky picked up as many of the pots as he could manage with one hand headed for the door. “See you in a bit.” 

The witch only made it as far as the front step before he heard a thump and disgruntled growl, what could only be the sound of cat paws stuck in overly sticky tape, and then finally the sound of little feet following him out the door. 

“Run into some tape, Tony?” 

“You shut your mouth, witch.” 

*****************

> _“So you can just come and go in my dreams now?” Bucky asked when Tony stepped through the glass walls of his dream and crossed to sit by him. “Even though I redid the spell and fixed up the walls? Just gonna intrude like that?”_
> 
> _“You did a good job on the walls.” Tony ignored Bucky’s comment about intruding and looked over at the far wall, the one where the Hydra has come through. “Left that mark though, huh?”_
> 
> _“I can’t fix that one.” Bucky followed Tony’s gaze to the melted glass, the rippled scar across the clear surface that was the result of Tony using his magic to save the witch. “But other than the one time, guess I haven’t really tried either. I sorta like it.”_
> 
> _Bucky sent Tony a sideways look and clarified, “It’s sorta nice. Reminds me I’m not all the way alone.”_
> 
> _“Right.” Tony settled in next to the witch, close enough that their shoulders brushed. “Got marks in your real life house from my bullshit, makes sense you’d want them here too. That way both your realities match.”_
> 
> _“Match?” Bucky echoes. “Marred by familiar shenanigans?”_
> 
> _“Whatever you want to call them, Bucky bear.”_
> 
> _They were quiet a moment, content to sit next to each other and stare around the glass enclosure but Tony was never one to stay quiet long so he asked, “Why don’t you have two arms in your dreams?”_
> 
> _“How come you aren’t a cat in your dreams.” Bucky countered._
> 
> _“Cos human is my reality.” Tony gestured down at his body. “Two legs, non kitty ears, amazing hair. This is who I am.”_
> 
> _Bucky just shrugged and held up his one hand. “Well it’s the same for me. Been so long without another hand guess I don’t remember what it’s like to have both. Can’t even imagine it anymore.”_
> 
> _“Huh.” Tony thought back to their day spent in the garden, the way Bucky had struggled to set the pits with only one hand and how the next few hours of watering and general weeding had left the witch sweating and sore from so much activity on the one side. “Well, would you **like** two arms in your dreams?”_
> 
> _Bucky looked away and didn’t answer, his right first clenching tight, and Tony let the topic drop._

****************

The gift of honeysuckle from Pepper and Natasha grew from one lovely little plant to more than a dozen sprouts over the weekend, and then two dozen within the next few days. The leaves unfurled deep green and healthy, the blooms fragrant and vibrant and Tony spent every waking moment sneezing his little head off, cursing the flowers, the witches, his familiar form, and Bucky for laughing at him. 

“C’mere c’mere.” the witch bent to scoop Tony up, then grimaced when he got a sneeze on the cheek for his efforts. “I got something for you, take a drink.” 

“I’m not drinking any of your potions.” the familiar sniffed and butted his head under Bucky’s chin miserably. “I know you’re still looking for a way to get back at me for the blueberry ink issue, so I’m definitely _not_ drinking what that neon pink mess is.”

“It’s Benadryll, you dramatic ball a’fur.” Bucky offered Tony the little cup again. “You know, people medicine? Not potions and magic but actual antihistamines. It will make sure you don’t sneeze yourself into a heart attack.” 

“Oh.” Tony sniffed the pink liquid, then sniffed it again. “Safe for cats?” 

“Not that you’re actually a cat.” Bucky said dryly. “But yeah, when I picked it up in town I made sure to ask Doc Banner if it’s safe for you in cat form.” 

“Kay.” Tony lapped at the pink medicine, grimaced at the taste, then went right back to lapping at it. “We don’t gotta get rid of the honeysuckle though. I think it’s helping your dreams, isn’t it?” 

“Dunno if it’s helping the dreams, but I haven’t had another nightmare or nothin’ yet.” Bucky wiped some pink off of Tony’s furry chin. “Maybe we can move the planter boxes out to the edge of the clearing so you aren’t breathing it in all the time.”

“Ah yes, the mark of a truly good person, making sure my lungs don’t collapse.” The cat _mrrrowp_!ed when he was deposited back into his current favorite box. “I do _so_ appreciate you making minute adjustments so I don’t sneeze my brains out through my nose.” 

“Yeah, it’d be a damn shame to get brain matter on this nice new box.” Bucky scritched at Tony’s ears and went to find them a snack. “Do we have any more brownies left or did you eat them all?” 

“You’ll be glad I ate them all when it comes time for me to be human again.” Only Tony’s ears were visible over the top of his box. “Every calorie goes right to my butt so–”

“–OH MY GOD, STOP TALKING ABOUT YOUR BUTT! I’VE WATCHED YOU LICK IT BEFORE!” 

****************

> _“Where’s your secret escape hatch?” Tony asked, finding his usual spot right up next to Bucky and throwing his leg over the witch’s knee. “Did you put one in?”_
> 
> _“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret escape hatch, would it?” Bucky picked up Tony’s foot and pushed it off his leg. “Would you stop that? It’s not fun when you’re a cat, it’s just weird when you’re human.”_
> 
> _“Can you feel it?” Tony looked positively delighted, dark eyes sparkling in amusement. “My weight, I mean. I think the first few times I dream walked in here I couldn’t hardly talk or feel anything. Do I feel real to you?”_
> 
> _“Real enough to punch in th’kidneys if you don’t keep your damn feet off me!” Bucky pushed the familiar away yet again when Tony tried to glom onto him. “Damn it, if you wanna cuddle do it like a real person and not like a cat!”_
> 
> _“Okay then.” In an instant Tony was on Bucky’s lap, straddling his legs and pushing in close and the witch sucked in an unsteady breath when his arms were suddenly full of startlingly beautiful **Tony** , real and solid and close enough for Bucky to scent the lightest bit of mint and honeysuckle mixed in the thick hair. “There, how’s that?” _
> 
> _“You are way too close right now.” Bucky gulped, and then gulped again, fingers flexing uncertainly at his side as he wondered where to hold Tony– and then wondered when it would start being weird that he wanted to grab his cat-familiar-turned-dream-walking-witch’s butt. “What– what are you doing?”_
> 
> _“Pretty sure I’ve been closer than this when I creep on you at night after you try to feed me peas.” Tony teased and inched closer until their noses touched. “What, you never have frisky dreams, Bucky bear? I refuse to believe that. Young witches are always ridiculously randy.”_
> 
> _“I don’t–” Bucky swallowed hard. “I don’t know who Randy is.”_
> 
> _Tony laughed so hard he fell right off to the side and if Bucky hadn’t been so busy gaping at the witch and loving that Tony’s laugh was the same in either form, he would have had time to wonder why he suddenly missed the weight of Tony across his thighs._

***************

“Don’t stare at me when I change, please.” Bucky said the next day, but the cat sitting on the foot of the bed didn’t so much as blink. “Tony. Seriously, don’t look at me naked.” 

“Yesterday you had no issue dropping trou in front of me.” Tony pointed out, baring his teeth and flexing his little claws into the quilt. “What’s the problem today?”

“Yesterday you didn’t get all human-y on me and sit on my lap.” the witch yanked a t shirt over his head, then clutched at the towel around his waist uncertainty. “Dunno. Just real aware that you’re actually _human_ all the sudden.” 

“I’ve always been human, Bucky bear.” Tony finally sighed, rolled his eyes and turned around so Bucky could get into pants without feeling ogled. “But sure, now that my dream form has gotten pretty damn corporeal, I can see how it’d be weird.” 

“It’s not weird that you’re corporeal.” Bucky countered, and tweaked at the cat’s tail so Tony knew he could turn around. “What’s weird is that you got on my lap and got…” he flailed around a little bit. “…flirty.” 

“Have you never spent any time with a familiar?” Tony jumped down and followed the witch to the kitchen. “Witches are more in tune to everything mortal’s feel, then you take all that and compress it down into a familiar form? We are basically oozing drama and horniness. Honestly, I’m surprised it’s taken this long for me to make a pass at you.” 

“Oh is that what that was last night?” A saucer full of sweet cream appeared in front of Tony and Bucky smiled reluctantly when the cat attacked it with gusto. “You always just plop down on people’s lap when you’re trying to flirt?” 

“Eh, it usually gets the point across.” Tony made quiet num num num noises as he cleaned the dish empty. “There’s only one of two messages someone’s trying to send when they sit on your lap. Both of them start with _‘I need attention_ ’ but only one ends with ‘ _and also cat food’_.” 

He blinked electric blue eyes up at the witch and goaded, “Ask me what the second one ends with.” 

“Th’fuck I will.” Bucky poured himself a bowl of cereal. “Hey, why are your eyes blue when you’re a cat but dark brown in my dreams?” 

“My magic is blue.” Tony nudged the empty bowl closer to Bucky’s hand. “In this form it’s compressed so much that it shines out through my eyes. In human form it’s spread out so I only get blue when it’s surging.” 

“Like when you saved me?” Bucky wanted to know, and Tony nodded. “Well I– I like the blue. It’s pretty.” 

“Your blue eyes are pretty too.” the familiar nudged at the bowl again. “Now give me more cream or I’ll bite you.” 

“You know, I think you’re more charming in human form?” 

“Nah, I’m equally a bastard in all forms.” 

****************

****************

Tony really was gorgeous in human form, all long limbs and graceful movement and sometimes Bucky let himself wonder if Tony had _always_ moved so beautifully or if it was the influence of his familiar form. Dark eyes shone blue when Tony laughed, a smile made Bucky’s heart flop when it didn’t come complete with fangs and cat-itude and the more often Tony showed up in his dreams, the less Bucky’s dreams felt like a _cage_. 

Now there was honeysuckle growing in the corner of the glass box, what felt like sunshine casting a soft glow over where they sat together, the faintest strains of music that Tony felt like he remembered from the old fashioned fairies the humans loved so much. 

Instead of sitting in a white box staring at the wall where the Hydra had crashed through, Bucky sat shifted so he was looking at Tony instead, and some nights they talked, some nights they laughed, some nights they sat there in silence with Tony’s leg thrown over Bucky’s because he might _insist_ he wasn’t a cat, but he sure still needed snuggles. 

Some nights Bucky gave in to the urge to cuddle up close too, gave in to the bone deep _loneliness_ that had been his constant companion for seventy years. Witches weren’t meant to be solitary creatures just like familiars weren’t meant to survive alone and while Bucky was lonely, Tony was damn near _touch starved_ , curling close and practically purring when the witch put a hesitant hand low on his back and rubbed slow circles. 

“Can I–?” Bucky would ask sometimes and other times he’d just reach for Tony because he _needed_. 

“Can I–?” Tony wanted to know one night and Bucky held his breath, shuddered when the familiar called his magic and wove together a new arm for him, bright silver plates and burnished copper fastens. The witch could feel the nerve endings come back alive, could close his fingers and make a fist, could place the new hand at Tony’s shoulder and then up into Tony’s hair and feel the silky strands against his palm. 

“Thank you.” Bucky looked like he could break down, tears bright in his eyes. “Tony thank you– this is– I can’t believe–”

– the dream shattered right then, Bucky’s emotions propelling him right out of sleep and into waking and the witch gave a quiet, broken sounding wail when he still only had the one hand. 

“It’s okay.” Tony curled close over Bucky’s left shoulder, tucked his nose into the witch’s cheek and crooned comfortingly. “When I finally get out of this mess and back to my usually gorgeous witchy self I’ll use my magic to build you a new arm.” 

“…really?” 

“I told you my magic is linked to iron.” The cat shrugged. “Steel, electricity, anything metallic in nature. I’ll fix it, Bucky. Not– not you cos you–” Tony hesitated, then just pushed in tighter and mumbled, “–You aren’t _broken_ , Bucky. You don’t need fixed. But I can give you both your hands back. Glamour it so people just see skin and not the metal if you want. After I’m human–”

“After you’re human I’m going to kick you out of bed for talking too much.” Bucky changed the subject before he did something embarrassing like _beg_ , and rolled over onto his side, bringing the cat with him. “Go the hell to sleep, I’m tired.” 

“You were just sleeping!” 

“It’s not super restful sleep when I’ve got a familiar chatting me up and groping at me during my dreams!” 

“…yeah, that’s fair.” 

**************

**************

“Love of my life.” Pepper bent down from her near towering height to lay a sweet kiss on Natasha’s lips, lifting the other witch up from the floor with nothing more than a single finger beneath Natasha’s chin. “I have news.” 

“You could ask me to stand so it’s easier to kiss me, you know.” Natasha wrinkled her nose up at her wife. “You’re only eight inches taller than me, there’s no need to levitate me off the ground for a proper smooch.” 

“But you know, I do so enjoy the way the weightlessness makes you _perkier_ than usual.” Pepper teased, cupping her loves more than generous assets in both hands. “If only it did the same for me.” 

“You are as effortlessly slim and beautiful as a willow sapling.” Natasha praised immediately. “Svelt and sylphlike and a thousand other adjectives I will find in the research texts and quote to you over tea and scones.” 

Pepper chuckled and kissed Natasha one more time. “I see your reading of poetry is coming along nicely?” 

“I am trying to be more romantic, yes. But over half a millennia of life creates difficult to break habits, darling.” Tasha shrugged. “What is your news?” 

“The news is that there is no news.” Pepper held out her hands to show them devoid of any mail. “We have not received letters from neither Tony nor Bucky for almost two weeks. These two haven’t submitted a grievance or complaint for _two weeks_.”

Natasha’s smile was almost too big for her face, her full lips stretching wide as she exclaimed, “I knew they’d work out together!” 

“It would seem you were correct.” Pepper looked positively overjoyed at the news too. “Was it our honeysuckle, do you think? Tony sneezing and being too adorable for Bucky to resist?” 

“More than likely Tony has finally let someone in past his barriers and he is remembering how to be the insufferable snarky but achingly sweet person we used to know.” Natasha countered. “But yes my love, I’m sure the honeysuckle helped.” 

****************

***************

> _Tony was screaming, pounding against the glass walls that he suddenly couldn’t get through, shouting for Bucky to see him, to hear him, to let him in, please please let him in._
> 
> _The Hydra was bigger this time, forcing its way through the mangled, melted glass scar and shattering it beneath its tentacles and teeth. It was bigger this time, hideous and horrifying and Tony thought he could smell it through Bucky’s cage, thought he could feel the hot blast of breath from the gaping, jagged maw._
> 
> _And he kept screaming for Bucky to let him in, but the witch was trapped again, trapped and terrified and curled up against the back wall hiding his face and huddled into his good arm and Tony couldn’t get to him in time._
> 
> _‘Escape hatch’ Tony thought and banged on the glass some more. “Bucky! Escape hatch, babe! Where’s your escape hatch! You never told me so I can’t– I can’t save you.”_
> 
> _“Shit.” Tony hit his knees in an awful moment of realization. “Bucky, I can’t save you. You never told me where your escape hatch is, you just kept laughing every time I sneezed at the honeysuckle and…”_
> 
> _He stopped, swiveled towards the corner of Bucky’s room where the honeysuckle grew tall and climbed the glass walls towards to the ceiling._
> 
> _“Honeysuckle.” he breathed. “By the wizards, did you really…?”_
> 
> _The flowers grew on either side of the wall at the far corner, magnified through the glass on one side and beautifully fragrant on the other when Tony shoved his hands into the tangle and felt for a hatch, for a handle, for any sort of dip in the glass that would give him a way inside._
> 
> _But then he_ was _inside, coughing out pollen and trying not to sneeze. The honeysuckle hadn’t been covering the door, it had_ been _the door, a ward to keep away evil spirits and apparently to keep Tony sneezing because the moment he let an achoo! slip out, Bucky’s head jerked up and his mouth opened in a wordless plea for **help**. _
> 
> _“I’ve got you.” Tony’s eyes lit blue, his palms lit_ brighter _as he tried to force the Hydra back and out of the dream. “Bucky, I’ve got you but you gotta help! You gotta help me save you!”_
> 
> _“Tony, I can’t.” Tears were streaming down the witch’s face, Bucky’s breath catching on a sob. “I can’t. Seventy years and I’ve never been strong enough to do this, I need you–”_
> 
> _“And you’ve got me.” Tony crouched down in front of Bucky, blasted the Hydra with a bright enough pulse to make the thing writhe and shriek. “You’ve got me, but you can escape here, I know you can. You can do it.”_
> 
> _“Tony–”_
> 
> _“You planted honeysuckle.” Tony plucked a bloom out of his hair and held it up for Bucky to see. “You figured out a way to help yourself escape.”_
> 
> _“If I run away it’ll just find me again!”_
> 
> _“Running away isn’t the same as escaping!” Tony shouted and Bucky’s eyes opened wide. “Sometimes we have to escape to save ourselves. You were strong enough to build an escape hatch in this place, you are strong enough to use it!”_
> 
> _The Hydra was breathing at them, roaring at them, vile and poison spitting from its tongue and teeth and Bucky flinched when the cage filled with noxious gas._
> 
> _“Tony, I’m scared!”_
> 
> _“Hey hey hey.” Tony grabbed both of Bucky’s hands, easing up on his magic so he could focus on his witch. “Bucky, I’m– I’m scared too, okay?”_
> 
> _Bucky opened his mouth to argue and Tony hurried to interrupt, “No no listen. I’m scared, Bucky. I’m scared of that thing and the way it haunts you and I’m scared that you wall yourself off every night in your dreams and I’m scared that you made an escape hatch and it took me a really long time to find it and more than that I’m scared that I’m going to lose you tonight and I can’t–”_
> 
> _**Honesty** , shocking Tony to his core and he swallowed hard. “–I can’t handle that. So I need you to get up and come with me to the honeysuckle and out of here once and for all. We’ll just be done with it. Walk outta here and I’ll seal it up tight so the Hydra can’t ever get out and you and me will be just fine.” _
> 
> _“Tony?!”_
> 
> _“I’m real scared right now too.” Tony whispered. “But I trust you, and I know you’ve got it, and you and me are gonna be just fine. Let’s just go. Come with me right now and let’s just go.”_
> 
> _“No no no we won’t have time to get around the monster!” Bucky was edging towards hysterical. “Nobody ever has time to escape the Hydra! No one has ever escaped–!”_
> 
> _“You did.” Tony’s dark eyes lit brilliant, electric blue, anxiety bubbling over as the monster lurched closer. “ **You** escaped, Bucky. You escaped and you survived the monster. You did. You can do it again.” _
> 
> _“I escaped_ hurt _!”_
> 
> _“But not broken.” Tony pushed their foreheads together and pushed some of his own calm deep into Bucky’s soul. “Not broken, Bucky. So come on. Let’s just go. You and me, right now.”_
> 
> _“Okay.” Bucky whispered and the familiar nodded quickly. “Okay, let’s go. You with me?”_
> 
> _“Right here.”_
> 
> _Tony held tight to Bucky’s right hand as they ran for the corner full of honeysuckle, ducking and dodging the flailing monster, and shielding Bucky’s body with his own as they finally pushed through the plants and out the other side into–_

–”Freedom.” Tony gasped in clean air when he was awake, back in Bucky’s bed and free of the stench of the Hydra. “Bucky we made it! We made it out, we’re okay, we’re okay. We made it.” 

“Need a minute.” Bucky rolled off the bed and ran stumbling for the bathroom to vomit, losing his stomach several times in the toilet bowl as the lingering fear from the nightmare twisted his gut. 

“Yeah, I’ll give you a minute.” Tony sat up in bed and ran his hands through his hair gingerly. “And then um– definitely alcohol. Definitely lots of alcohol and holy crap am I freezing, why am I freezing right now and also–” 

He stopped, realizing first that Bucky had come back to the room and was staring at him wide eyed and slack jawed, and then realizing second–

“Holy shit.” Tony stared down at human hands, at his _human_ body, and then looked back up at the witch. 

“Holy shit, we broke the hex.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Holy crap, I’m human.” Tony held up his hand again and flexed his fingers, smoothed his palms down over his thankfully fur-less chest and sides. “Bucky, we did it. I’m _human_.” 

“You’re also naked.” the witch pointed out and Tony waved him off with a casual, “Oh don’t worry about that, I’m basically naked all the time anyway. Who needs clothes?” 

“You do!” Tony _oophed_ when a towel splatted over his face. “Cover up, Tony! You don’t have fur anymore!” 

“I know.” Tony spread his legs and wriggled a little bit and Bucky made a strangled, squawking sound. “Don’t be such a prude, you’ve seen me naked before it was just in cat form. This isn’t very different.” and then with a sly glance towards the witch, “Well I mean, there’s like seven inches worth of something different, but who’s counting?” 

Bucky just looked at him and Tony finally rolled his eyes and spread the towel over his lap. “Better?” 

“Yeah, thanks.” Bucky inhaled sort of shakily. “So um– what does this mean, Tony? What does this–” he motioned to the other witch. “–what happened? You learned your lesson? Your hex ran out, what is it?” 

“I learned my lesson.” Tony touched gingerly along a faint scratch of scars on his chest. “Humility and empathy and you know, the only thing stronger than a witch’s curse is a witch’s love, right?” 

“Humility.” Bucky repeated. “And empathy and–and love?” 

“Humility cos I realized I couldn’t do everything alone.” Tony counted off on his fingers– he had fingers! He had never loved fingernails and knuckles so much!– “I couldn’t do normal day to day things alone, much less save you. Empathy cos being with you is the first time it occurred to me that maybe the universe doesn’t revolve around my whims and that my actions affect other people just like they affect me. I get it. I was self centered and terrible and now I’m only _mildly_ self centered and quite a bit less terrible.”

“That’s why you were a cat.” Bucky said flatly. “That’s it right there. Cos you think the sun rises and falls based on your wishes.” 

“It’s exactly why I was a cat.” Tony agreed with a quick nod. “And um– love. I think even if I hadn’t learned my lessons the hex would still break since you love me and everything.” 

“… if you hadn’t learned your lesson I definitely wouldn’t love you.” Bucky retorted, and Tony was quick to point out, “But you aren’t denying you love me?” 

“I–” Bucky paused, scratched awkwardly at his chin. “– I care a lot about you, Tony. But you were a _cat_. I cleaned up your hairballs and had to pick fox tails from your fur and threw shoes at you at god awful hours of the morning when you had the zoomies.” 

“Which is _clearly_ true love!” Tony exclaimed, and clapped his hands. “You do love me!” 

“ _Tony_.” 

“I know it’s weird.” the witch finally sobered, finally quit teasing long enough to be honest again. “I know it is. I was a cat and now I’m not, we were really starting to get along in both dream world and waking and now I’m not cursed to familiar anymore. It’s weird and that sort of sucks but before you decide whether or not this whole experiment is over and send me away, could we just–” 

“I’m not sending you away.” Bucky interrupted. “Why would you think that? Do you want to leave me?” 

“No!” Tony nearly shouted, hands out stretched. “No! I don’t want to leave you and I don’t want you to send me away and– _whew_.” he shook his head. “– I really do love you, don’t I? Never thought I’d say those things out loud. Bucky listen, things are going to be different after this but it doesn’t have to be all that different, okay? If you’re willing to deal with me as human, then I want to stay.” 

Then softer, “Can I stay?” 

Bucky was quiet for a few minutes, and Tony waited with a pounding heart for the verdict. 

“Do you still want that stupid box or can I throw it out?” the witch finally asked and Tony breathed out a relieved laugh. “And are you going to stop shedding, cos I gotta say that’s my least favorite thing ever.” 

“If I wasn’t so happy you aren’t throwing me out, I’d be tempted to bite you.” Tony grinned, all sharp teeth and sharper smiles. “Right there on your ridiculous pecs.” 

“I feel like you biting me doesn’t have the same connotation as it used to.” Bucky shuffled his feet and got a little pink cheeked when Tony’s smile only stretched wider. “Please don’t leave, Tony. This is gonna take some adjusting to, but I don’t want to be without you anymore.” 

“That’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard in my life.” Tony whispered gratefully, honestly. “Can I kiss you?” 

“Don’t know if I’m ready to be kissed by my former cat.” Bucky said bluntly, but not unkindly. “Can we work up to that? Cos I wasn’t opposed to kissing dream you but…” 

“We’ll work up to it.” Tony scooted back on the bed and patted the spot next to him, biting at his lip anxiously to ask, “Will you come lay by me? Sleep next to me? Is that okay?” 

“Hell yeah, that’s okay.” 

They fit together perfectly, legs tangling and chests brushing with every breath, Tony’s head tucked under Bucky’s chin and both arms wound tight around the witch’s waist. 

“This is so much better when you don’t have a tail to twitch in my face when you need attention.” Bucky mumbled and Tony sassed, “Don’t worry, I still have something to twitch in your face when I want attention!” and the bed shook with their combined laughter. 

Then Bucky lay a very soft, very gentle kiss on Tony’s forehead and combed his fingers through the thick hair, smiling when Tony immediately snuggled closer and purred up against his throat. 

“That’s so sweet.” he whispered. “Don’t ever stop purring for me. Don’t care if you’re human now or not.” 

“Kay.” Tony budged in as tight as he could go and closed his eyes tight, exhaling years worth of worry and stress and choking fear and inhaling Bucky’s sweet honeysuckle scent and letting it warm him from the inside out. 

_Perfect_. 

But then– “ACHOO!” he sneezed and Bucky cursed and flailed away, a hand to his heart and eyes wide. 

“Okay.” Tony sniffed at him. “Don’t need to be that dramatic about it.” 

“Oh my god, your sneezes were so much cuter when you were a cat.” 

“Well now you’re just being rude.” 

*************

*************

_Epilogue_

Bucky nodded to a witch who smiled a hello as they passed, held up his left hand and waved when someone else called to him from across the market square. 

It had been a whole month now since Tony had created him a new arm in brilliant silver and bold copper, the pieces connecting and fitting up over his shoulder to frame the red star from Lehigh. 

The arm was _beautiful_ , a gift of love, pure effort and affection on Tony’s part, born of a wholehearted wish to help, to make Bucky’s life easier, to reinforce what Tony had told him that last, awful nightmare with the Hydra– “ _You aren’t broken, just hurt._ ” 

And these days Bucky didn’t feel broken, not with two working hands and a skill in magic that was growing by leaps and bounds every day thanks to the daily insight Tony offered since his full powers had been restored. 

Magic linked to _love_ always shown brighter anyway, and every day the spells were easier, the more complicated incantations more natural and now Bucky walked tall and proud through the town, chin up and eyes sparking and a smile curving the corner of his lips because he was finally fulfilled, finally _happy_ , finally–

“Why are you smiling still, that person is long gone.” The witch got a tail across his face for his lingering grin, and Bucky sputtered a few times and knocked it away. “I’m just saying you look weird walking around smiling all the time. Witches are supposed to have some mystique and no one who grins like a goofy goober has any mystique.” 

“Thanks for that.” Bucky batted Tony’s tail out of the way again. “By the way? It’s cool you figured out how to shape shift and can go back and forth to cat as you please but would it kill you to get off my shoulders and walk a little bit? You have beans again, use them for something useful!” 

“After some very serious thought, I’ve decided I only want to be human when we’re in bed.” Tony stretched out lazily, settling himself more firmly across Bucky’s broad shoulders. “Unless we’re kissing or losing clothes, I’d much rather be in this form, resting my beans. They’re so delicate, you know.” 

“You only want to be in cat form so I have to feed you, brush you and carry you places.” Bucky complained. “You are the worst witch and familiar in the world.” 

Tony only grinned cat-sharp and purred in Bucky’s ear and by the time they passed Magic and Magnolias, they were laughing together. 

“Do you hear that, darling?” Pepper nudged Natasha as the pair passed. “That sounds to me like a match well achieved, don’t you think?” 

“I’d say so.” Natasha agreed. “And since Tony’s magic has apparently shifted enough to allow him to retain some of the familiar form and spirit, their bond won’t dissolve as we feared. An excellent match, but now we need a new project. Who should we shift our attentions to next?” 

“I think Samuel.” Pepper handed her wife a thin file folder. “He is so drawn to the avian familiars and after losing Red Wing two summers ago, he’s never quite recovered. And Clint is avian you know, he keeps getting rejected because the witches complain he shifts between Hawk familiar and awkwardly winged human at abrupt and inopportune times.” 

“Samuel would pluck Clint’s feathers if the bird tried to scare him that way.” Natasha said slowly, then nodded. “Yes. An ideal match, they will balance each other nicely. Who else?” 

“Steven is in desperate need of a familiar as well.” Pepper pulled another folder free from her stack. “He’s had several but none have fit him quite correctly. Do you suppose Thor…” 

“Thor.” Natasha repeated blankly. “The full size lion familiar that stands at Steven’s chin when fully shifted? Pep, Thor would sneeze and knock Steven away, we need someone delicate, better suited to Steven’s size.” 

“No.” Pepper made up her mind and shook her head. “No, you won our argument with Tony and Bucky, I’d very much like to see Thor and Steven together. Thor needs to learn a lesson about his ego and Steven needs to learn to bring down some of his defenses. They are perfect.” 

“What about Wade?” Natasha mused. “Ever since his accident and the damage to his form he’s refused a witch, even goes out of his way to spite them.” 

“Until Wade learns to manage his rage and violence, I don’t think it’s safe to put him with anyone, my love.” 

“Peter has been five years a witch and has never had a familiar.” Natasha mused, holding up the two pictures and studying the pair. “His stubbornness and morals are equally as resolute as Wade’s violence, plus there isn’t a creature alive who could resist those soft eyes. He would balance Wade beautifully.” 

“Natasha _no_.” 

“Alright.” the witch pushed those folders to the side. “We’ll let them be…. For now…”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Christmas gift for Kaylee!

Bucky was half asleep in bed still, not quite awake enough to care that he needed to use the bathroom, content to stay burrowed beneath the heavy blankets and avoid the chill of snow and ice outside. The holiday season was fun, but it was _more_ fun when there was a warm quilt to wrap up in and a warm body to snuggle up next to. 

“Tony?” the witch moved the blankets only enough to call for his roommate-familiar-turned unhexed-witch-boyfriend. “Baby doll, where you at?” 

“ _Mrrrrp_?” The bed dipped slightly as Tony leapt onto the mattress and Bucky muffled a groan when he got a rather _catty_ kiss right on the face. “Meow?” 

“I was hoping for your less furry form this morning.” He complained, and then shrieked when the cat darted beneath the blankets and stuck ice cold paws on his stomach. “Tony! Why are you so cold!” 

“I did my business outside this morning.” Tony flexed his claws into the sheets and then curled into a ball next to Bucky’s chest, soaking in the body heat from his witch. “Wrote my name in the snow, isn’t that what the teenagers say?” 

“You’re gross.” Bucky huffed and batted Tony’s tail out of his face. “Pretty sure you were human when we went to bed last night. I was sorta lookin’ forward to morning cuddles with a human too.” 

“Yeah, well you get a cat instead.” Thoroughly unperturbed by his witch’s unfulfilled preference, Tony twitched his tail again and snuggled closer, purring in easy contentment when Bucky gave him first ear scritches and then butt pats. “See, isn’t this nice? Everyone wants to snuggle a cat first thing in the morning.” 

“Everyone does, huh?” Bucky rolled onto his back and brought the cat with him, grimacing over the poke of claws and obligatory hair in his nose as he got Tony situated. “I feel like _everyone_ wasn’t there when it took me a full two months to be able to kiss someone who I’d previously scooped a litter box for.” Bucky poked at the cat, and Tony swiped right back at him irritably. “And since it's been about two months of only kissing _and_ since there's mistletoe up above the bed right now, I dunno, I figured you'd be showing up human looking to do something about it.” 

There was a quiet whoosh and about a hundred and fifty pounds of extra weight suddenly on Bucky's stomach and the witch grinned knowingly when his hand was resting on a rather round, rather human _booty_.

“Now see?” Tony blinked dark brown eyes down at him, bed head on full fluffy display and smile stretching to near goofy widths. “If you would have started the conversation with 'baby doll, where are you, I've got mistletoe', I _definitely_ would have come to bed in this form.”

“And not stuck your ice cold beans all over me?” Bucky ran his left palm down Tony's back, the cool metal warming quickly until it met his other hand at Tony's rear. “Or were ice cold toes always a part of a deal?”

“Always a part of the deal.” Tony decided confidently, and wiggled closer with his lips pursed. “Morning kiss?”

“Oh always, baby doll.” Bucky leaned up with a ready smile, whispering a quick quiet spell just before their mouths met so they only tasted honeysuckle and a little bit of mint for the first, early morning kiss. The best part about being in love with someone else magic was the distinct lack of morning breath and Bucky took full advantage of it now, stroking his tongue into Tony's mouth and holding his familiar tight when Tony moaned and kissed him back just as hard.

It really had taken two months for Bucky to reconcile the person he knew that had always been a cat with the devilishly handsome-- and honestly, just downright _devilish_ \-- human Tony that had broken his hex in a spectacular show of selflessness and empathy. It certainly didn't help that Tony had retained the ability to move between cat and human form even though he'd never really been a true familiar. Now there were days when Bucky went looking for a kiss and found a cat...bathing...himself, there were times when he wanted to cuddle Tony tight and listen to purrs and ended up with a fluffy haired human shrieking at him for interrupting his hour long shower..

…yeah, the kissing had taken a while to come along. But once they started, it was all Bucky wanted to do. He wanted to hold Tony tight with both his hands and feel the familiar shudder and shiver into every kiss, he wanted to palm low over that ridiculous butt with his real hand so he could feel how warm Tony was and then again with his metal hand because Tony's eyes always went real wide before fluttering shut and his moan was always a little louder. Tony was gorgeous and he made Bucky _wild_ , made the witch wonder how he'd ever lived so long without Tony at his side, in his bed and in his arms.

“Me- _wow_ , Bucky bear.” Tony laughed breathlessly when Bucky rolled them in the bed, pinned him to the mattress and mouthed a hungry kiss along the hinge of his jaw. “Something particular on your mind?”

“Mistletoe above the bed.” Bucky grunted over another searing kiss, catching Tony's bottom lip between his teeth and sucking longingly. “And you. Ain't my fault you never wear clothes.”

“Ain't that the truth.” Tony purred low and sweet and arched into their next kiss, twisting his fingers in Bucky's long hair one moment and then scratching his nails down the unyielding metal of his left arm the next. His magic was linked to iron and anything metal so Tony could feel the thrum of _being_ in the prosthetic limb, the charms that kept it moving just like Bucky's natural arm, and yes he had a little bit of a metal arm kink and _yes_ he knew it would only get worse once they really started doing fun things and maybe Bucky would use those fingers somewhere interesting...

“Oh holy hell, sugar, you're so hard.” Bucky groaned into Tony's ear, brought the familiar back to the kiss and the wandering touches with immediate clarity as silver fingers closed around Tony's cock and stroked _once_ \--

\--and then not a second time because Tony made a noise that wasn't quite a squeak and neither was it a squeal. It was something else somewhere in the middle-- awkward and mortifying and the perfect accompaniment to the _also_ awkward and mortifying event happening just below his waist.

“Wait.” Bucky looked down at the mess on his hand curiously, then up into Tony's over wide, over embarrassed eyes. “Tony, did you just--”

Tony did another one of those squeaky-squeal noises and then abruptly _poofed_ into his cat form and raced from the room, blankets flying and nails skittering on the floor as he bolted for the living room just as fast as his four stubby legs would take him.

“Uh.” Bucky looked down at his messy hand, then at his own, still untouched dick, and then out the door where he caught just the last of Tony's tail as the cat made a break for the outside. “What just happened?”

*************

At some point during the day Tony decided facing Bucky was better than freezing his beans off outside, but apparently _facing_ Bucky didn't mean _talking_ to Bucky, and the house was decidedly quiet as Bucky made a loaf of bread and Tony sat in cat form and stared crankily at one of his books.

The sun was going down by the time the cat decided he needs _real_ pats and Bucky quickly ditched his oven mitts and held out his arms so Tony could climb up and curl around his shoulders, hiding his little face in Bucky's neck and making a plaintive noise.

“Shhh, it's okay babydoll.” Bucky scritched at Tony's ears and then washed his hands and went back to baking. “Just hang out for a little bit, huh?”

After the bread was done and Bucky had shared a butter and honey drenched piece with his familiar, he dropped into his favorite chair and wrestled Tony down onto his lap, forced the cranky cat onto his back and then gave slightly aggressive belly rubs until Tony had settled the hell down and was basically liquid and limp, purring noisily across his thighs.

“Wacky cat.” Bucky said affectionately. “Gotta force you to take belly rubs.”

“I'd take belly rubs in my human form.” Tony finally said and Bucky countered, “I'd blow raspberries on your belly if you were human form. Make you laugh till you snorted all ugly like you pretend you don’t do.”

“Rude.” the witch got a face to the paw for that comment, but in the next instant he got a _kiss_ as Tony shifted up and glommed onto his lap, wrapped both arms around Bucky's neck and crushed their mouths together.

“Easy easy, sweet thing.” Bucky huffed a quiet laugh and got Tony better situated on his lap, spread those long legs to either side of his thighs and directed the kiss smoother and deeper, cupping Tony's chin and slowing it down. “You didn't talk to me all day, now you're gonna try and suck my face?”

“I'd try and suck something else if you'd take your pants off.” Tony said blandly and Bucky barked a surprised laugh that quickly turned to a shaky sigh and Tony spread eager hands across his abdomen and then tracked lower. “Sorry about earlier, but in my defense I was an unfortunately celibate feline--”

“-- _oh_ , least sexy words ever Tony.”

“--for a very long time.” Tony shifted just enough to give himself fangs and dug them into Bucky's throat, ripping a hoarse shout from his witch. “Honestly, its shocking I even made it past the first kiss before splooging all over your hand.”

“ _Seriously_ with the unsexy words, Tony.”

“But I got one out of my system so we should be good to go.” the familiar wriggled impatiently on Bucky's lap, rocked back into the impressive bulge beneath his butt and made a noise that might have been a pleased little growl. “Please touch me? You made me wait two months for a damn kiss, the least you could do now is touch my butt.”

“The least I could do?!” Bucky laughed through another kiss, and then another, clutching Tony up close and kneading big handfuls of that amazing rear. Whether this ended in sex or not he wanted to be _touching_ his familiar. Tony had spent years alone, touch starved and miserable and while Bucky had never thought he was touch starved, the months with Tony being so eager for cuddles and hugs had shown the witch just how badly he needed to be held too.

So if the least he could do was hold his touch starved familiar close and soothe his own need to be held and loved and adored, if the least he could do was touch Tony's butt, well....

...well it's not like it was a _chore_.

“C'mere, baby.” Bucky slouched lower in the chair, palmed over Tony's ass and then thrust up against the soft swell, bit off a curse when Tony whispered magic into his ear and Bucky was suddenly naked.

Loving someone magical was _fun_.

“Ohhhhh right there.” Tony's ears were sensitive in both forms, and when Bucky leaned in to nibble and lick along the delicate lobes and into the softest spot right behind them, Tony tossed his head back and purred out loud, practically vibrating with the effort of holding himself still so his witch wouldn't stop.

“Mmm beautiful.” Bucky murmured and Tony wriggled impatiently closer, grabbed at metal fingers and squeezed tight, then reached low to close his palm around Bucky's cock and stroke him quickly. “Ah ah babydoll, that's so good, don't stop.” 

“I won’t--” Tony bit back a gasp when thick fingers tracked purposefully down the cleft of his ass and towards his entrance. “Oh fuck, Bucky--p-please--” 

“Sit up for me right here.” Bucky caught Tony into a messy kiss as he coaxed the familiar up onto his knees a little more, just enough for him to circle the pad of his thumb around the tight hole, just enough for him to press lightly only lightly so he could feel when Tony gasped and clenched and--

“ _Bucky_ \--!” 

\--and there went Tony _squeaking_ again, squealing and stammering, hips jerking as he finished with just the pressure of Bucky at his entrance, spilling hot onto Bucky’s chest and immediately blushing bright red in mortification. 

“Damn it!” Tony tried to poof _cat_ again, but Bucky clamped down on his hips and drew on some magic so Tony couldn’t move. The familiar wriggled and writhed and actually hissed before finally yanking free and shifting mid leap, swiping at the witch in aggravation before scrambling out of the living room and right out the window, spilling dirt from their windowsill box of honeysuckle as he went. 

“Fucking cat.” Left hard and horny and alone for the second in twelve hours, Bucky sighed down at the mess on his stomach. “I’m gonna be a virgin forever.” 

**************

The next morning Bucky woke up alone, and when he called for Tony there was no answer. The witch closed his eyes and stretched his senses and smiled when he realized today was the winter solstice, his magic humming beneath his skin and Tony’s almost physically present in the small house. Living with Tony had taken Bucky’s magic from nearly lost to almost over flowing, rooted in the Earth like his familiar was rooted with metal and iron and Bucky loved it now, loved that he could close his eyes and feel the way the Earth goddess spoke to him and the entire world. 

Winter solstice. A day for magic to _flourish_. 

“Tony?” Sleeping alone was never fun, not now that Bucky was used to at least having a cat curled up on his pillow, so the witch pulled on some pajama pants and brushed his hair out of his eyes, headed to the kitchen for coffee and to find his familiar. “Honey, where are you?” 

“Good morning.” Tony was already at their potions table reading through his books amid piles and piles of ingredients, at least on his sixth cup of coffee judging by the relative poofiness of his hair, and definitely running on not enough sleep judging by the redness of his eyes. “Did you sleep okay?” 

“I don’t sleep real well when you’re not in bed.” Bucky poured himself a cup of coffee then bent to give his love a kiss. “What’s going on?” 

“No kisses.” Tony shoved his hand in Bucky’s face and the witch _ack_!ed grumpily. “No kisses for you.” 

“What do you mean no kisses?” Bucky huffed, dodged the hand and tried again. “I don’t get to kiss you good morning?” 

“I went years unfortunately celibate and now I’ve deflowered myself twice in an embarrassingly short amount of time.” Tony shook his head and ducked Bucky’s mouth. “No kisses. Heaven forbid you slip me some tongue and I ruin your pajama pants.” 

“Ruin my--” Bucky peeked under the table. “Huh, so that’s where my other pair went.” 

“No one needs two pairs of pajama pants Bucky, you should just sleep naked.” 

“So you can deflower yourself a third time when I breathe too hard and our dicks-- _mmph_!” Bucky shut up when the familiar hit him with a silence spell, his lips sealing closed for an uncomfortable thirty seconds. 

“Look.” Tony put his book down and sighed. “I know you think this is funny, but you just talking about us sleeping naked together is turning me on, so ix-nay on the ick-day conversation until I figure this out.” 

“Alright.” Bucky rubbed at his mouth, worked his jaw a few times after the spell wore off. “Alright then, tell me what you’re working on?” 

“Viagra for witches.” Tony tapped a book that was open to a somewhat lewd illustration. “With slight feline implications--” 

“-- _ick_ , Tony.” 

“--that will effectively numb everything below my waist so the next time we try to get to first base together, I actually get to round the bases instead of bunting the ball and getting tagged out anyway.” 

“Kay well unnecessary baseball references aside.” Bucky took a swallow of coffee and picked up the book, reading through the potion ingredient list quickly. “There ain’t nothing wrong with bunting so long as the balls all get the right place, right?” 

“That was literally terrible.” Tony fussed, but he cracked just the tiniest smile and Bucky nudged at him teasingly, “Well you started it.” 

“Yeah, I sure did.” Tony scrubbed at his face wearily. “Here’s the thing, Bucky bear. Before Auntie cursed me for absolutely no reason--” 

“--blatantly false--” 

“--before Auntie cursed me for a _slightly_ valid reason, I was a damn Casanova, alright? I was up all night with whoever I wanted, got them and me feeling good multiple times-- didn’t even need magic to make that happen. I was just _good_.” 

“...alright?” 

“But then I was hexed and spent all that time as a cat yada yada.” Tony made a vague motion with his hand and blew out a deep breath. “And now-- now I’m so touch starved and damn trigger happy that all you have to do is _look_ at me and I’m ruining my pants.” 

“Seriously?” Bucky asked doubtfully and Tony sent him a frustrated look-- “Babe, last week you came out of the shower and there was a bunch of water running down your arm and I popped a boner so bad I had to shift to cat just to have some fur to hide it.” 

“Awkward, Tony.” 

“Is it?” he asked flatly. “Is it awkward for you? Because you have no idea how frustrating it is for me. I want things between you and me to be good. We got the relationship thing down, and your magic is incredible compared to what it was when we first met and I’m so happy--” 

Bucky swooped down and kissed him real quick and Tony flushed lightly, touching his lips self consciously. “Yeah. I’m-- I’m so happy with you. Happier than I ever was when I was mega witchy and had the Casanova thing going on. So it’s pissing me off that when it comes to _this_ , to sex with you, to something I’ve always been great at?” 

Another vague gesture. “I’m disappointing you. And that kills me. And I’m sorry.” 

“Oh sweet thing.” Bucky put his coffee aside and frowned, ran his hands through Tony’s hair and lay a soft kiss on his forehead. “I’m not disappointed. Not in anything but you running away instead of sitting and talking to me about it.” 

“But--” 

“Besides.” the witch cut in gently. “Tony, I’d rather you be so into what’s happening with us that you lose control too quick versus you being a Casanova and all great at everything so I know I’d never do anything that would make you feel good.” 

“You smile and I feel good.” Tony said bluntly, and Bucky grinned down at him. “No seriously. That smile does dangerous things to my heart. You don’t ever have to worry about that.” 

“It’s nice t’know I affect you.” Bucky decided and Tony shook his head to correct, “You don’t _affect_ me, Bucky. You bring my magic clamoring up from my very soul and splinter me into pieces. I love you. I love _us_. And I want us to be able to do this without me being a Magicky Minute Man, alright? That is unacceptable.” 

“Tony--” 

“IT’S UNACCEPTABLE.” 

Tony turned to the table and went back to work, and Bucky just watched for a minute trying to figure out what to say to make his familiar feel better, trying to figure out what to say so Tony didn’t feel awful about something that Bucky just didn’t really mind at--

“Tony!” the witch lunged forward and slapped a plant from Tony’s hand. “No! No, bad kitty! That’s mistletoe! Poisonous!” 

“Did you--” Tony blinked up at Bucky and then down at the discarded mistletoe. “Did you just call me a bad kitty and slap something out of my hands?” 

“Mistletoe is _poisonous_ , Tony!” 

“Uh yep.” Tony narrowed his eyes at Bucky and picked up another sprig. “And so is hemlock but we use it in everything. Moderation is the key.” 

“Not with poison!” Exasperated, Bucky smacked it out of his hands again. “Put it down!” 

“Maybe you give me a little credit, seeing as how I’m several hundred years old and know way more than you.” Tony said calmly. “Give me it back.” 

“Nope.” 

“ _Bucky_.” 

“Tony, this is crazy.” Bucky swept everything that even looked remotely like mistletoe off the table and into the garbage disposal. “I put up with you being allergic to honeysuckle, I deal with your weird thing about boxes and how you still shed even though you’re fully capable of simply not shedding, but I am not going to let you hurt yourself just so we can have sex.” 

“It’s hurting me to _not_ have sex, Bucky.” Tony said plainly, and Bucky huffed, “You are the most dramatic cat in the world.” 

“Categorically untrue.” Tony sniffed. “You should meet my friend Thor, he’s at least eight hundred pounds of pure drama. I’m eight pounds at the most.” 

“You’re eigh _teen_ pounds, at least.” 

“And that’s your fault because you keep giving me cream.” Tony shrugged and pushed back from the table. “You know it goes straight to my butt.” 

“I do love your butt.” Bucky hauled Tony in using the aforementioned butt as leverage, and lay a firm kiss on his lips. “But I’m puttin’ my foot down about the potions alright? How’s about you give me a little bit of credit and trust _me_ on this one, huh? Let me try my way of making our moment last, come on.” 

“Okay but--” Tony shivered through a sigh when Bucky kissed him again. “But I’m telling you, we need a potion or a numbing cream or something.” 

“Or something.” Bucky mumbled over a mouth full of tongue. “C’mon I’ll figure it out baby.” 

Tony couldn’t help giving in when Bucky yanked him up close and backed him towards the bedroom, and he didn’t resist when clothes started hitting the floor or when Bucky tightened up the gears in his arm until they were plastered together. 

“Bucky.” Tony gasped when their bodies rubbed, bare skin to bare skin. “Oh my god.” 

“C’mon sugar, give me a little more.” Bucky fell back onto the bed and dragged Tony up on top of him, planted both hands on that round ass and ground into him. “You feel so good, honey.” 

“You feel good too.” Tony panted, writhed over the cut of teeth at his neck and the flex of Bucky’s cock against his own. “B-but wait-- slow down. I don’t want to disappoint you or-- or--” 

“You could never disappoint me.” Bucky swore, sealed their mouths together and nearly growled when Tony kissed him back desperately. “And I’ve been practicin’ some pretty specific magic so why don’t you c’mere and let me show you?” 

The sheets were honeysuckle scented just like everything else in their house and Tony open mouth gasped the scent in when Bucky flipped them over and started mouthing and licking his way down the familiar’s body, hands and tongue carving a tantalizing, heated path down Tony’s chest to his stomach and _lower_ until Tony was twisting and crying out and digging his fingers into Bucky’s big shoulders and begging, “Bucky Bucky Bucky, too much, I’m gonna--” 

“Settle.” Bucky lay a kiss at Tony’s navel, whispered a spell into satiny skin and _groaned_ when Tony’s cock jerked at the underside of his skin and the familiar arched his back and shouted in near release--

\-- but not quite _full_ release because the spell kept him just at the edge of twisting, writhing pleasure and Tony’s eyes rolled back in shock when Bucky bent and swallowed him down to the root. “Bucky--!” 

“Yeah, sugar.” Bucky rumbled and Tony jolted _close_ again, pulled back from the edge only by the barrier of magic at the edges of his subconscious. “Yeah, that’s so good…” 

*********

Afterwards, after Bucky had released the spell and Tony had finished screaming and then caught his breath as fast as possible and set to work making _Bucky_ scream--

\-- _afterwards_ , Tony lay pillowed on Bucky’s chest still licking the last of remnants of white from his fingers, grinning like the proverbial cat that got the cream and Bucky just laughed tiredly and hugged him in closer. 

“Look at you, getting all magical.” Tony whispered in approval, nuzzling into Bucky’s throat and purring out loud. “That was amazing. Thank you.” 

“Thank _you_.” Bucky kissed the top of his head, then motioned the blanket up and over their cooling bodies. “Never could have managed any of that without you as my familiar, Tony. You gave me my magic back.” 

“Well give me a second to get my breath back and then I’ll give you seven inches of something else as a thank you.” Tony laughed when Bucky made a disgruntled noise. “I guess unless you’d rather be the one giving?” 

“Tell you what.” Bucky plucked a sprig of honeysuckle from their bedside plant and booped it on Tony’s nose. “It’s the season of giving and all that, right? Let’s just keep unwrapping each other until we reach some sort of decision.” 

“Unwrapping--” Tony rolled his eyes. “My _god_ , that was cheesy.” 

“Oh and your line about giving me seven inches was supposed to be romantic?” Bucky challenged, and the familiar conceded, “Okay, that’s fair. Cheesy it is.” 

“Come here, honey.” Their next kiss was slow and tender and loving, then Bucky rolled them carefully in the bed, planted that big silver hand right up by Tony’s head and grinned, “I want to unwrap my present first.” 

“Mmmm.” Tony fit his leg between Bucky’s thighs and rubbed up against him. “Ho ho holy mistletoe, Bucky bear. Is that all _you_?” 

“You had me in your mouth, sugar, you tell me.” Bucky teased, and Tony laughed out loud. “No potions needed there.” 

“Well then, Merry Christmas to _me_.” 


End file.
